Advani finds support from rivals on EVM issue

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
leader L K Advani today found
support from rivals Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M),
Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) for
his suggestion for re-introduction of ballot papers in place
of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Advani has not cast any doubts on the results of the Lok
Sabha elections but feels the country should revert to ballot
papers starting with the Maharashtra Assembly elections in
October and some more states later unless the Election
Commission was able to ensure that EVMs were fool-proof and
every possibility of malfunctioning has been taken care of.

However, the Congress has reacted saying it was an
"astonishing" statement of a losing party which was in search
of wrong answers for its loss.

There was no immediate comment from the Election
Commission as CEC Naveen Chawla and EC S Y Qureshi are away on
a trip abroad while the other Commissioner V S Sampath is in
Hyderabad on leave.

However, Qureshi was earlier quoted as having said that
the Commission was absolutely satisfied that the EVMs could
not be manipulated and that a technical committee headed by
former IIT-Madras Director P V Indiresan was in place to
ensure this.

Recently, the controversy over the EVMs gained momentum
when former Delhi Chief Secretary Omesh Saigal gave a
presentation to the Commission as to how EVMs can be
programmed to manipulate results, after which the Commission
asked a Deputy Commissioner to probe the matter.

BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad told PTI that the
party was making it "very clear" that it was not raising any
question mark over the recently held Lok Sabha elections in
the "absence of any tangible proof".

"It is certainly expected that the Election Commission
would ensure after proper enquiry that the EVMs are not
subjected to any manipulation or malfunctioning. Till that is
done, it is expected that the elections to Maharashtra,
Haryana etc will be done through ballot papers," he said.

Prasad noted that in Germany, voting machines have
been prohibited while in the US, it is mandatory to provide
paper back ups to EVMs. "Now many parts of the world's
democracies are following the old system of ballot papers."

The CPI(M) said that the questions being raised about
the functioning of EVMs should be considered "very seriously",
especially as many countries have reverted back to ballot
papers, including developed ones.

"Many questions have already been raised related to
EVMs. These are serious issues and if we want to strengthen
our democracy then we should consider the matter very
seriously," CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Yechury told reporters
here.

He said many countries in the world which were using
EVMs have reverted back to ballot papers and these included
developed countries, with Germany being the latest example.

Addressing a press conference, JD(S) chief H D Deve
Gowda said that secrecy cannot be maintained in EVMs. "This
system should be abandoned. Our party at the all-party meeting
before the elections have enlisted the shortcomings of EVMs.

"In EVMs, boothwise details of voting could be known.
This could lead to parties intimidating and harassing voters
in a particular area," he said. Gowda said the country should
go back to the old system of ballot papers.

LJP Secretary General Abdul Khalid said his party
demanded that the practice of using EVMs should be stopped and
the old practice of ballot papers should be brought back.

"EVMs can be tampered at times there are problems even
in polling inside Parliament. So how can EVMs be foolproof,"
he said.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said it was an
"astonishing" statement from a top leader of a losing party.

"Advani's comments are the most unfortunate. I hope
and trust that they do not betray a lack of grace over the
loss in the elections," he said.

Singhvi said he hoped that Advani does not take the
country back to dark ages when India is proclaimed a proud
democracy with 1.2 million EVMs in over one million polling
booths and 700 million voters and results are out in four
hours after start of the counting.

However, his party colleauge and another spokesman
Manish Tiwari said, though he would go by Qureshi's statement,
he would like a wider discussion on the efficacy of the EVMs
and whether there could be manipulation at a macro level.

"You know, this is a fundamental concern for
democracy. And to that extent, the Leader of Opposition is
correct that there is a need for wider probe. PTI SJY
PMR