With a little more than a year to go for the next general elections, the Opposition parties have decided to come together to draft a joint memorandum asking the Election Commission to settle the questions raised over the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
This decision was taken at a meeting of the Opposition parties hosted by Nationalist Congress Party patriarch Sharad Pawar. Along with the NCP, a total of 11 parties — the Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Janata Dal (United), the Shiv Sena (Udhav Thackeray), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, IUML and the Kerala Congress (Mani) attended the meet. The Trinamool Congress, which is the second largest opposition party in Parliament, skipped the meeting.
This meeting was just the first in the series that has been planned on the issue. Speaking to The Hindu, senior BRS leader Keshav Rao, who was present at the meeting, said, “Over the last eight years several questions have been raised on the working of EVMs. The Election Commission so far has failed to settle these doubts. So it is high time that they provide us with answers,” Mr. Rao said.
It was also decided at the meeting that the Opposition will have to carry out a sustained campaign against the EVMs and other electoral malpractices. If the Election Commission does not give convincing replies to questions, a leader pointed out, then the Opposition will have to mount a political campaign against the panel too.
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‘Opaque system’
“None of the leading democracies in the world use EVMs, because it is an opaque system. If they can rely on ballot paper the question is why should we alone be an exception,” CPI general secretary D. Raja, who attended the meeting, said.
Several leaders here also pointed out that a wrong narrative has been set by the ruling BJP that it is the Opposition alone that has raised doubts about working of the EVMs. “Truth is that the voters have little trust in EVM. In fact, surveys have shown that nearly 40% voters believe that the EVM can be easily manipulated. So it is not about us versus them, the EC is bound to give answers to the voters,” another leader said.
