After note ban, EVMs unite Opposition against government

Urge Election Commission to ensure all EVMs in future polls give physically verifiable paper trails

After demonetisation, Electronic Voting Machines are the new cementing factor for the Opposition parties to target the BJP-led centre.

After the BJP's stunning win in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and decent show in Goa and Manipur, opposition parties such as the Congress, TMC, JD-U, RJD, Left parties, NCP, SP and BSP and AAP alleged that EVMs used in the recent assembly polls were tampered.

Following a joint strategy session at parliament, these opposition parties urged the Election Commission to ensure all EVMs to be used in future elections give paper trails, which are physically verifiable. They will petition President Pranab Mukherjee on April 12, the day the budget session ends.

BSP chief Mayawati was the first to cast doubts over EVMs after her party won just 19 of the 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had high hopes of making electoral gains in Punjab, too had expressed doubts over EVMs.

As the momentum built by these parties over demonetisation fizzled out in the recent assembly polls in five states, the chorus around faulty EVMs seems to be their new slogan.

Kejriwal, who was advised introspection by the poll panel on the Punjab results, compared the EC with blind king Dhritrashtra in the epic Mahabharata, who wanted his eldest son Duryodhan to get the throne at any cost.

The party's social media team trended hashtag "Dhritrashtara EC" on social media platform Twitter, saying it wanted to help its son BJP.

Noting that some EVMs used in the Dhopur assembly bypoll in BJP-ruled Rajasthan were tampered, Kejriwal wondered why the same machines were being deployed for the coming municipal polls in Delhi where both AAP and Congress are trying wrest power from the BJP.

Both Congress and AAP have urged the poll panel to examine if faulty EVMs were used in the recent assembly polls.

The Congress, which had led a united Opposition over note ban protests during the previous winter session and the first half of ongoing budget session, has been pushing for the use of ballot papers instead of EVMs in all coming elections.

The Opposition parties says the government should not shy from facilitating free and fair polls and should do everything possible to restore the faith of citizens in the electoral process.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee met Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, over faulty EVMs.

The suspicion over EVMs gained ground after a trial in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh showed the EVMs were recording votes only in favour of the saffron party. However, the poll panel has rejected any aspersions being cast on the EVMs saying the machines were tamper-proof. The BJP hit back at the Opposition saying the parties were trying to find fault with the voting machines as they were unable to digest their defeat.