Losers second Advani’s ‘shun EVM’ call

NEW DELHI: After the BJP, it���s the turn of another national party, the CPM, to raise doubts about the functioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs), and urged the election commission to revert back to the ballot paper system to gauge the voter-mood .

BJP leader L K Advani���s demand received instant backing. Besides the CPM, the RJD and JD(S) too, which are backing the ruling UPA government at the Centre, have supported the ���back to ballot��� demand. The AIADMK and the TDP had earlier favoured the dismantling of the EVM regime and its replacement with the ballot paper system.

Interestingly all these parties fared badly in Lok Sabha elections and are now blaming EVMs for their defeat.
���Many questions have already been raised relating to the EVMs... These are serious issues and if we want to strengthen our democracy, then we should consider the matter very seriously,������ CPM polit bureau member Sitaram Yechury told newspersons here on Sunday.

The senior CPM leader contended that several countries in the world, which had been using EVMs, have reverted back to ballot papers, and these included developed countries, with Germany being the latest example.

The Rajya Sabha member endorsed calls for a thorough inquiry into charges of EVM malfunctioning. `` I have heard that the election commission is thinking about probing the matter. I don���t know whether it has been decided,������ he said.

With two prominent national parties raising question marks about the functioning of the EVMs and coming out in support of the demands to shift back to the ballot paper system, the election commission is expected to come under renewed pressure to dispel doubts about the issue.

Two major regional players, the AIADMK and the TDP too had trained their guns on the EVMs, alleging that they were susceptible to rigging, and demanded that the old ballot paper system be brought back into circulation to assess the mood of the voter.

The election commission, on its part, is holding firm on the view that EVMs cannot be tampered with and are, in fact, full-proof . A technical committee headed by former Madras IIT director P V Indiresan had, nevertheless, been appointed by a parliamentary subcommittee to look into the charges.

Mr Advani had on Saturday articulated the sentiments nursed by a cross-section of his party when he demanded that the election commission should fall back on the ballot paper system to assess the mood of the electorate. He wanted that the Maharashtra assembly polls, scheduled to be held by October this year, and the election battles that follow soon after in Haryana, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh, be held under the traditional system.

The demand for scrapping the EVMs had started building up soon after the declaration of results of the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP���s state units of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had attributed their party���s dismal performance in their respective turfs to ���flaws in the EVMs.���

The AIADMK, which came up with a below-par performance in Tamil Nadu, too had expressed severe doubts about the functioning of the machines, alleging that they were vulnerable to manipulation. A resolution adopted at the executive committee meeting of the party on May 27 said the election results had reflected large-scale manipulation of EVMs.

���Our party general secretary Jayalalithaa has been constantly arguing against EVMs. Even the developed countries have reverted to ballot paper after manipulation of EVMs was detected,������ said the resolution. The demand received a big boost after former Delhi chief secretary Omesh Saigal, armed with evidence gathered by a junior programmer, went public with his claim that ���rigging of EVMs was very much possible���. The officer had showed that the final results could vary ���if the pre-programmed code number was keyed into the EVM���