Some political parties have decided to approach the Supreme Court against the use of electronic voting machine (EVM), Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu said in Amaravati on February 14.
In his daily teleconference with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders, Mr. Naidu said this decision was taken during a meeting of 15 parties at Sharad Pawar’s residence in New Delhi on February 13 night.
A TDP release on the teleconference, however, did not give any further details on the issue.
The TDP has been demanding that EVMs should not be used in the coming general election and that the Election Commission of India revert to the paper ballots.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, who was in Amaravati recently, maintained that “most parties” reposed faith in EVMs, and regretted that some were making the EVMs part of their “motivated slugfest”.
Mr. Naidu also told his party rank and file that the Opposition parties decided to forge a pre-election alliance and work with a common minimum programme.
“There is a lot of antagonism towards Narendra Modi’s rule across the country. Democracy will be in danger in the hands of incompetent people. Our talks with national parties have been successful,” the release quoted the TDP chief as saying.
He, however, did not specify whether the TDP would have a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in Andhra Pradesh. The Congress had announced it would fight the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly elections, due in May, on its own.
