Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on January 22 questioned the use of electronic voting machines when even the more advanced nations were not using them.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party government was weakening democratic institutions. It is using them to suppress dissent and the voice of the opposition, he said. “Why does a country like Japan, which is very advanced in science and technology, is not using the EVMs? The question should be raised among the nation’s 130 crore people,” the SP chief said in Lucknow.
His remarks come after a self-proclaimed cyber expert, a U.S.-based Indian, claimed at a press conference in London that the 2014 Lok Sabha elections were “rigged” through manipulation of EVMs.
Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, who is Mr. Yadav’s alliance partner in the State, had also issued a statement criticising the EVMs, a day after the London press conference.
She suggested that paper ballots should be used in the next election.
