Opposition demands paper trail in EVMs for polls in Gujarat, Himachal

Demand follows BSP chief Mayawati allegation that EVMs were rigged in UP assembly polls

Opposition members today demanded in the Rajya Sabha the early implantation of a 2013 Supreme Court order that requires each electronic voting machine, or EVM, to have a voter verified paper audit trail, or VVPAT.

During a short duration discussion on electoral reforms, opposition members, led by Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, said EVMs be used in the assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, scheduled for end of this year, only if equipped with VVPAT. Azad said the Centre should release the requisite money to the Election Commission for manufacture of VVPAT machines. Azad said elections should be held using the old system of ballot papers if VVPAT machines cannot be made available by that time. Azad said the Chief Election Commissioner has sent 10 letters to the government on the issue since May 2014, but is yet to receive a response.

The demand comes in the context of Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati alleging that the EVMs were rigged in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scored an emphatic victory in the elections.

Opposition members also raised the issue of the "partisan" role of media, the problem of "paid news" and a law to ban cross holdings by media owners. They stressed the need to check the influence of money by putting a limit to the expenditure that a political party can make in elections. Some members said there was now need for India to move from a 'first past the post' electoral system to a partial proportional representation system that would more effectively reflect its diversity.

BSP's Satish Chandra Mishra said use of EVMs has been junked in Japan, Germany, Ireland and most of the states in the US. He said EVMs were "hackable". Mishra pointed to a 272-page document authored by current BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao and published after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, whose preface was written by L K Advani, to point how even the BJP had once asked for a review of the use of EVMs. He said current BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy had moved court and the SC had ordered that all EVMs should have VVPAT.

While Mishra demanded that the UP polls be annulled and said even the paper audit trail wasn't foolproof in a country like India with high illiteracy, others like Janata Dal (United)'s Sharad Yadav and Communist Party of India (Marxist) chief Sitaram Yechury stressed the need for a paper trail.

Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav said the suspicion of rigging EVMs wasn't on the Election Commission but the government of the day. Sharad Yadav said he didn't want to go into the merits of Mayawati's allegations, but doubts have been raised and an inquiry commission be set up to look into these.

From the government's side, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said opposition leaders should confront reality that the people of the country are tired of their politics, and stop blaming EVMs. He said the vote share pattern of principal political players in assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa in the recent assembly polls shows a pattern similar to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

BJP's Vinay Sahasrabuddhe dismissed opposition's suspicions on EVMs, and said the speeches of opposition members should bring about in them a "catharsis" to help them come to terms with the loss in UP. BJP's Bhupender Yadav said the EVMs are kept in the possession of the district administration before and after the voting process.

Bhupender Yadav also spoke in favour of simultaneous elections of parliament and legislative assemblies. He said frequent elections disrupted development work and governance. Yechury said the opposition parties would support the move if the government agrees that Article 356 of the Constitution, that empowers the Centre to dismiss state governments and impose central rule in the states, be repealed.