New Delhi: The Delhi CM claimed that people were losing faith in EVMs and election procedures. This was raising a questionmark on the country’s democratic structure, he added.
Congress leader and senior lawyer Abhishek “Manu” Singhvi said the Opposition parties would approach the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the EC to count at least 50 per cent of VVPAT slips with EVMs in every Assembly segment. Mr Singhvi said the Opposition parties would carry out a nationwide campaign on the issue of discrepancies in EVMs and alleged that the EC was not doing enough to address the issue of EVMs’ malfunctioning.
Another senior lawyer and top Congress leader Kapil Sibal said: “If the EC will ignore this issue, then we will take other measures. We will not sit quietly. We will approach the Supreme Court.”
This demand by Opposition parties comes in the peak election season. The first of seven phases of the Lok Sabha polls was held on April 11, and the next one is due on April 18.
All the Opposition parties have been demanding that the votes polled through EVMs be verified with at least 50 per cent voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs). A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify that their vote was recorded correctly, and will help detect any possible election fraud or malfunction of EVMs.
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