Not going back to paper ballots: Chief Election Commissioner declines Opposition demand
New Delhi, Jan 24 (IBNS): Turning down several opposition parties' demands, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora on Thursday said there is no way to get back to the paper ballot system in the forthcoming General Elections.
Stating that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Arora said as quoted by News 18, "There is no way that we are going back to paper ballots. We are sticking with EVMs."
"If result is ‘X’ then EVM is fine, if not then EVM is faulty. EVMs are not a football," added the CEC.
The CEC's statement came days after the Congress and BJP got involved in a war of words after Syed Shuja, a US-based cyber expert, claimed he was a part of the team which designed the EVMs used in India and the 2014 general elections in India were rigged.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned the presence of the Congress leader in the event and said in a press conference: "In what capacity was Kapil Sibal present at the EVM hackathon event? Is the Congress-sponsored event designed to defame the popular mandate of India?."
"The Congress party has already started finding a reason to state for the defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," he said.
The Election Commission of India had denied allegations by an "expert" - in a news conference in London - that the EVMs used in Indian elections can be tampered with.
"The ECI firmly stands by the empirical facts about foolproof nature of ECI EVMs deployed in elections in India," the commission said.
"It needs to be reiterated that these EVMs are manufactured in Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) under very strict supervisory and security conditions and there are rigorous Standard Operating Procedures meticulously observed at all stages under the supervision of a Committee of eminent technical experts constituted way back in 2010," it added.
Recently, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee constituted a four-member committee comprising four different political leaders to press for the demands of using paper ballots.
At the Opposition's mega rally last week in Kolkata, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah, even termed the EVMs as "chor machine (cheat machine)".
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