DUSU election: Cong demands repolling on ballot papers

The Congress on Friday alleged tampering with the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) polls and demanded that the election be held again with paper ballots and the counting of votes under CCTV surveillance.

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said the party was also considering the legal options to get the polls countermanded after the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the students' wing of the party, bagged just one of the four DUSU posts and the rest went to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students' wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

"Our main demand is that the Delhi University students' council polls be held again using ballot papers and the vote counting under CCTV surveillance," he told a press meet.

"We are examining all the aspects of moving the court," Maken said, when asked whether the Congress would seek legal recourse after the NSUI's defeat in the DUSU polls.

He added that the Congress and the NSUI would stage protests in the Delhi University on the issue.

The Congress leader alleged that whenever EVM malfunctioning was reported, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up winning the polls and demanded that the Election Commission (EC) goes back to ballot-paper voting in all the forthcoming elections in the states and the Lok Sabha polls.

He also alleged that the EVMs were provided to the Delhi University by the ECIL, the company that supplied the machines to the EC.

Maken alleged that the EVMs used in the DUSU polls were of the EC, even though the poll panel clarified that they did not supply the machines.

"Why did the Delhi University not clarify where did they get the EVMs from?," he asked.

The Congress leader also said the Delhi University did not clarify why did it take the EVMs from the ECIL without the permission of the EC, as the ECIL could not give the machines to anyone without the nod of the poll panel.

He alleged that ballot number 10, which did not exist on the EVMs, got 40 votes, asking, "How is this possible?"