lBallot Papers for 2019: Congress Says BJP ‘Singled Out’, 70 Percent Political Parties Want EVMs Replaced
Congress
spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said that alternatively, there should be
30 per cent cross-checking of EVMs with paper trail of votes to ensure
integrity of electoral process.
New Delhi: The Congress on Monday
claimed that over 70 percent of political parties have asked the
Election Commission to replace Electronic Voting Machines with ballot
papers at the all-party meet in Delhi.

Senior leader Abhishek Singhvi said the demand was made since there were doubts on the credibility of EVMs.

The
Nationalist Congress Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Aam
Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (S), Communist Party of
India, CPI-M and Forward Bloc were among those that supported the move.
Sullen BJP ally Shiv Sena too backed the change to ballot papers.

Seven
recognised national parties and 51 recognised state political parties
were invited for the meeting. Out of the total 58 parties, 41 attended
it.

Singhvi said the Congress’ stand was given in writing to the
Election Commission (EC) many weeks ago and it was reiterated on Monday
for the second time.

He suggested that alternatively there
should be 30 per cent cross-checking of EVMs with paper trail of votes
to ensure integrity of electoral process.

“Our demand remains
undiluted that there should be reversion to paper ballot which is the
demand of other political across the spectrum,” he said, claiming that
the BJP was “singled out” on the issue.

Singhvi said if the EC
does not agree to revert to paper ballot, then it should adhere to the
suggestion that in at least 30 per cent of the polling booths there
should be paper trail of EVMs to check the authenticity of votes cast.

The
consensus in opposition ranks on the EVM issue was built thanks to TMC
supremo Mamata Banerjee, who had visited Delhi for two days at the end
of last month and held a series of meetings with leaders of several
opposition parties, including Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. She had come to
the capital to invite them for her federal front rally in January 2019.

Several
opposition parties have been demanding since last year that EVMs be
replaced with ballot papers, alleging that the machines have been rigged
to favour the ruling BJP.

This demand had gained momentum after
2017, when Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s BSP suffered
huge reverses in the Uttar Pradesh elections, leading them to contend
that EVMs were tampered to help the BJP.

In April this year, the
EC had told the Supreme Court that it would introduce VVPAT machines on
all polling booths across the country ahead of the 2019 General
Election.

However, according to a recent newspaper report, the
EC was running way behind schedule on introducing VVPAT for all polling
booths ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It said that the polling
body had only managed to complete 22% of its targets as of July this
year.

The Congress on Monday also demanded that ceiling be
imposed on the expenditure by political parties during poll campaign,
Singhvi said.

Currently, there is a limit on poll expenses by a
candidate in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies but there is no limit on
the expenses made by a political party during elections.

“Unregulated
party expenditure is a dangerous proposition… There should be a
ceiling on the expenditure by political parties,” he said. Singhvi said
the party has opposed the electoral bonds, terming them as a “fraud”.

“The
electoral bonds are yet another fraud (committed) on the nation… This
is not a new stand. You are in fact legitimising anonymity; you are in
fact legitimising large sums of money without even the scrutiny which
happens today”.

“You are actually making it much worse… You are
in fact legitimising humongous amounts of donation without revealing
the name of the donor,” he said.

The opposition party further
demanded weeding out of all duplicate and false voters from the voters
list to ensure a free and fair election.

The party has alleged
that there are 60 lakh duplicate names in the voters list for Madhya
Pradesh and another 45 lakh for Rajasthan. Both the states go to polls
later this year.

“These are shocking discoveries going to the
root of the electoral process at the pre-declaration stage and suffice
it to state that the numbers are significant enough to alter and distort
the outcome of the electoral process. Backbone of democracy are free
and fair elections and credible voter list is the first test.

“It
goes without saying that the integrity of the electoral process will be
severely compromised if proper physical verification is not conducted
and so many bogus voters are allowed to persist on the rolls,” he said.

The Congress said this is a national issue affecting all political parties and therefore strict compliance is necessary.