The Congress on Wednesday said the Election Commission (EC) should stop “experimenting” with democracy and bring back the ballot paper system.
“The electronic voting machine dispensed only lotus [BJP] symbol slips during a public demonstration in Bhind, which was an eye-opener. So the Election Commission should explore the possibility of shifting to alternative system of paper ballot and stop experimenting with the democratic process,” Congress general secretary Mohan Prakash said.
Mr. Prakash, who is in charge of party affairs in Madhya Pradesh, said the EC had assured the Supreme Court that it would introduce EVMs equipped with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail devices in a phased manner.
“It was going on in a sluggish manner. However, doubts have cropped up in voters’ mind following the demonstration in Bhind. Ballot paper system is a tested one,” he noted.
He alleged that the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh posted only certain officers for election duty.
“Why the government appoints certain officials in every bypoll? The lower rank employees are being threatened by the government. Even the officials who were transferred upon the EC’s directive are still working in Bhind,” he said adding that the Congress would take the issue of EVMs to people.
A trial of EVMs ahead of the Ater Assembly by-election in Bhind district led to a controversy when some reports said that VVPAT machine dispensed only BJP slips no matter which button of the EVM was pressed. However the Chief Electoral Officer of the State has denied this.
