Oppn concerned over EVMs effectiveness

New Delhi: leaders from several Opposition parties met at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence over concerns related to the viability of EVMs in elections.   Opposition leaders have raised concerns over the viability of the electronic voting machines (EVM) and said that they will urge the Election Commission of India (ECI) to clarify their suspicion over the use of voting machines in elections. The leaders met at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar's residence. According to news agency ANI, the meeting was not attended by the Trinamool Congress.

Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said that the scheduled all-party meeting to demonstrate the prototype of remote EVMs was turned down after the Opposition parties objected the need for remote voting.  "The ECI had called an all-party meeting over remote EVMs. There, almost unanimously everyone objected to remote voting…There is an apprehension in the country about this," Singh said after at a press meet.  The meeting was held after the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that he will respond to doubts raised by political parties and civil society activists over EVM.

The Congress leader pointed out that ECI earlier said that EVM is a standalone machine, however, later accepted otherwise as the names of candidates and symbols of respective political parties are embedded in it online. "They used to say that it has a one-time programmable chip. But now they accept it as having multiple programmable chips," he added. Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said that the question on the electoral process through EVMs were being raised several times. He also said that whenever the machines were found to have issues with the machines, it was found that 'the vote goes to the BJP'.

"It is a fact that no other country in the world uses EVMs for voting. Then why are these machines being used in our country? The foundation of democracy is at stake if the 'one man, one vote' can be manipulated," he said.  In May 2022, the civil society submitted a letter to the ECI over doubts regarding the manipulation of EVMs.  Pawar had earlier said that the meeting was called in the interest of free and fair elections and to the views of eminent professionals.