BHOPAL: After writing several letters to the State Election Commission, the Congress party has now started a campaign against the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs). Former chief minister Kamal Nath has also written to the State Election Commissioner in this regard. State Congress chief Kamal Nath has written in his letter that the most-developed countries, including the US, Britain, Italy and Germany, have stopped the use of EVMs outright.
“Despite their apparent lead in technology and innovation, no major nation relies on EVMs for conducting elections. In fact, the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany has restrained the use of EVMs on the ground that EVMs did not live up to the constitutional principle of transparency in elections,” said Nath in his letter. Nath said that the use of EVMs does not inspire confidence in the citizens of the state. The State Election Commission has allowed polling through ballot papers in the panch and sarpanch elections. Thus, it is imperative that all general local body elections, including panchayats, should be conducted exclusively through ballot papers.
In-charge of the election work of the Congress JP Dhanopia said that the Election Commissions work closely in tandem with the political parties. The SEC cannot ignore the demand of a political party without any reason. The Congress has decided to give its representation to all the authorities concerned with elections, demanding elections through ballot papers and not EVMs.
‘Why make a difference?’
"If panch and sarpanch elections can be conducted through the ballot paper, there can be no reason to impose the use of EVMs at other levels," said Kamal Nath, state Congress chief.
