Amid allegations that EVMs were tampered with in the just-concluded assembly polls, the Delhi unit of the Congress on Tuesday approached the state Election Commission seeking that the upcoming civic polls in the city be conducted through ballot papers.
In a letter to state Election Commissioner S.K. Srivastava, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken, airing doubts about the efficacy of electronic voting machines (EVMs), said voters had apprehensions about the fairness of the electoral process.
"Serious doubts have cropped up in the minds of the voters as to the free and fair nature of the electoral process. Even the Supreme Court in January 2017, reiterated the need for vote verifier paper audit trail (VVPAT) in EVMs," said Maken.
"We demand that these elections should be held using the traditional ballot paper system as an immediate step so as to erase doubts in the people's mind," he said.
Earlier, Maken on Twitter urged Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to hold the elections to the North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations -- due in April -- through ballot papers.
"Many are doubting EVMs. Not prejudiced, nor casting aspersions on results. I want Arvind Kejriwal to hold MCD elections through ballot papers," Maken said on Twitter while clarifying that he wasn't disputing the outcome of the just-concluded assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab.
Following the decimation of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, party chief Mayawati alleged the voting machines had been "managed" to favour the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
She asked the Election Commission of India to hold the results of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkahand assembly elections invalid and do re-polling using paper ballots.
The poll panel subsequently rejected her allegations.
--IANS
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