Advani finds support from rivals on EVM issue

No one in the opposition trusts electronic voting machines (EVMs) any more.They have raised doubts about the dependability on EVMs after former Delhi chief secretary Omesh Saigal, an IIT graduate, showed that EVMs can easily be tampered with. BJP leader LK Advani is the latest to join the chorus against EVMs.

He has demanded that ballot boxes be re-introduced, starting with the elections in Maharashtra and other states, later this year. Advani advocated using ballot papers until the election commission (EC) ensures that EVMs are foolproof and every possibility of their malfunctioning is plugged. However, the BJP made it “very clear” it was not questioning the recently-held Lok Sabha elections, in the “absence of any tangible proof”.

BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said apprehensions were being raised by different quarters about the alleged malfunctioning of EVMs. “Recently, former Delhi chief secretary Omesh Saigal gave a scientific and technical presentation showing how EVMS can be manipulated. The EC has now asked a deputy election commissioner to conduct an inquiry,” Prasad said.

“Since the EC itself has ordered an inquiry, they should assure everybody that EVMs are not open to manipulation and malfunctioning. But till such assurance comes, the forthcoming elections in four states should be conducted using ballot papers,” Prasad said. He noted also that Germany had rejected EVMs, while in the US it was mandatory to provide paper back-ups. “Now, many of the world’s democracies are following the old ballot paper system,” he said.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari labelled Advani’s comments as “a stretch of imagination”, but the TDP’s Yerran Naidu pointed out that cabinet minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had said in Orissa that the Congress won fewer seats there due to manipulation of EVMs by the ruling BJD.

“I wrote to Azad congratulating him on his statement and suggested that he discuss it in the cabinet,” said Naidu. AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa had expressed her distrust of EVMs to the EC in January. Janata Party’s Subramaniam Swamy wrote a detailed article some weeks ago on the issue.

While the CPI(M) refused to comment, saying it has not gone into the issue in detail “to form an opinion”, its senior leader, Nilotpal Basu, said “there have been questions coming up” about it (EVMs).

Naidu averred that EVMs lack transparency. “The voter does not know whether his vote has gone to the party he voted for. He cannot see it. If EVMs are so ‘perfect’, why are there so many instances of EVMs not working properly? In many areas, voting started at 3pm because the EVM was not working. At the time of counting, there were cases where an EVM would not open and votes could not be counted,” he said.