Poll panel's trust in technology should be respected: Prasad

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday backed the Election Commission over the use of electronic voting machines, saying the poll panels trust in technology should be respected.

Addressing a National Voters' Day function here, he said there was need to respect the sanctity of institutions.

Prasad said EVMs had given different results at different times and while the BJP has won elections, so have other parties.

"We need to respect the sanctity of the institution of Election Commission of India. Today if electronic voting machine is being used, the same machine has shown the victory of my party as well as defeat of my party. The same machine has shown so many regional players elected time and time again," he said.

The minister added that violence in elections "has become a thing of the past" thanks to the "courage, commitment and foresight" of the successive chief election commissioners over the years.

"If there is some deviation from transparency in the voting process, there is a mechanism available of countermanding the elections," he said.

Prasad's remarks came a day after Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora rejected the demand of major opposition parties to go back to the era of ballot papers and asserted that it cannot be "bullied or coerced" into discarding the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPATs.

Speaking earlier, CEC Sunil Arora said the poll panel was fully prepared for the smooth and transparent conduct of the coming Lok Sabha polls.

"While the country prepares for the election to the 17th Lok Sabha, which is perhaps world's largest democratic exercise, we at the Commission are ready and fully equipped to facilitate the more than 87 crore electors in exercising their franchise at 10 lakh polling stations across the country," Arora said.

"During the year 2018, the Commission successfully conducted elections to the nine state legislatures in a free, fair and peaceful manner," he added.

--IANS

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