Leaders of 22 opposition parties met the Election Commission officials on Tuesday over reports of controversy over alleged tampering of voting machines.
Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu said that people’s mandate cannot be manipulated. “We raised these same issues in last one-and-a-half months. We asked Election Commission why have they not responded. Strangely, EC heard us for almost an hour and assured us they will meet us again tomorrow,” said senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi.
Opposition parties have been sceptical about EVMs. They have often said the polling machines can be tampered with, even as the EC has ruled out any such possibilities. The EC even threw a challenge to the political parties to prove their claims.
The parties will also demand that the EVM machines should be tracked so that they can be identified with their numbers and location of use. An apprehensive Congress feels it is very important to track the EVMs to better understand the logic of replacement of machines.
The top opposition leaders had earlier in the day met to discuss the possibility of a non-NDA alliance staking claim to government formation.
Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot, Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress, TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, Satish Chandra Misra of the BSP, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M), D Raja of the CPI, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Derek O’Brien of the TMC, Ramgopal Yadav of the SP, Kanimozhi of the DMK, Manoj Jha (RJD), Majeed Memon (NCP), Devinder Rana (NC) are taking part in the meeting among others.
Also read | Chandrababu Naidu’s plan doesn’t take off at Mamata Banerjee meet, focus back on EVMs
“On VVPATs and the EVM tally, the EC is yet to come out with a procedure in case there is a mismatch.
Even if there is one mismatch in the VVPAT samples picked for counting and EVMs, to maintain the integrity of the electoral process, all VVPATs in that Assembly segment must be counted,” Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Yechury said. PTI SKC ASG RC
Also read | ‘Frivolous,’ says EC on complaints of EVM replacement in UP
First Published:
May 21, 2019 14:20 IST
Source: HindustanTimes