Congress reiterates its stand on EVM, roots for ballot

Bhopal: While AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh raised the issue of alleged EVM tampering in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, his party colleague in-charge of Madhya Pradesh affairs Mohan Prakash said here that all political parties who believe in democracy would come together for a nationwide movement demanding the return of voting by ballot papers.

“There is an ongoing debate in the country over EVMs. Many times suspicions were raised over the credibility of polling by EVMs. Ater opened eyes of the country and proved that tampering happens. In front of the chief electoral office and in the presence of media, the EVM failed in its first demonstration,” Prakash said.

“Every political party in this country that believes in democracy and the value of our Independence movement will join this anti-EVM movement,” said Prakash. “Our only appeal to the Election Commission of India (ECI) is that experimenting with democracy should be stopped and we should go back to the tried and tested ballot papers,” he said.

The senior Congress leader argued because of suspicion over EVMs, the matter once reached the Supreme Court. The EC then claimed before the apex court that they would bring the fool-proof method of VVPAT (voter verifiable paper auditor trail) system. “It was this system that failed in Ater during the trial run. The EC’s chief electoral officer pressed the button herself and the BJP’s symbol came out. Furthermore, she threatened media with police action if journalists covered the incident,” Prakash said.

“In the coming months, big revelations will be made about how some people have played around with the values of democracy,” Prakash claimed. Launching an attack on chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Prakash said, “The state government and chief minister should explain why after EC transferred the district collector of Bhind, the officer was still sitting in office till Tuesday?”

Prakash alleged that in Govindgarh, there was a scheduled feast of 2,500 persons in the presence of the chief minister.