EVM Row: Oppn Meets EC, Demands 50% Results Be Matched with VVPATs

EC assured Opposition leaders that issues raised by them would be “deliberated and examined”.

TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu addresses media after meeting Election Commission officials.

(Photo: ANI)

Leaders of several opposition parties, including the Congress and the TMC, met Election Commission officials on Monday, 4 February, to discuss the issue of alleged EVM tampering.

Addressing the media, the delegation said that they have asked the poll panel to ensure that 50 percent of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) results are matched and cross-checked with voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) before declaration of results in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The delegation included Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge, Chandrababu Naidu (TDP), Derek O'Brien (Trinamool Congress), Ramgopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Satish Chandra Misra (Bahujan Samajwadi Party), Omar Abdullah (National Congress) and D Raja (Communist Party of India).

Opposition parties had earlier sought reverting to the ballot paper system instead of employing EVMs during polls.

After the meeting, EC said that it was not feasible to start using ballot paper system instead of EVMs, but the issues raised by Opposition leaders will be “deliberated and examined,” ANI reported on Monday.

“To bring transparency to the election process, we should go back to paper ballot, however, due to time constraint, we are demanding that 50 percent of VVPATs should be counted at random and be tallied with EVMs.

Chandrababu Naidu

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad added that if EVMs are tampered with, then the Indian democracy is in danger.

(With inputs from ANI)