NO CHANCE OF GOING BACK TO ERA OF BALLOT PAPERS: CEC

Says panel open to criticism, feedback from all stakeholders, parties

NEWDELHI: Chief election commissioner Sunil Arora on Thursday ruled out reverting to the paper ballot system for conducting polls and said there is no way the country will be “intimidated, bullied or coerced” into giving up electronic voting machines (EVMs).

EVMs have been the subject a political slugfest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which supports their use, and Opposition parties led by the Congress, which alleges they can be tampered to rig poll results.

“I would like to make it very clear that we are not going back to the era of ballot papers,” Arora said, speaking at an international conference on making elections inclusive and accessible.

“We are open to any criticism, any feedback from any stakeholder, including from political parties, they are the biggest stakeholders. At the same time, we are not going to be intimidated or bullied or pressured or coerced into giving up these and start the era of ballot boxes,” Arora said.

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We are not going to be intimidated or bullied or pressured or coerced into giving up EVMs and start the era of ballot boxes... EVMs have been used for past two decades now

SUNIL ARORA, CEC

NEWDELHI:Chief election commissioner Sunil Arora on Thursday ruled out reverting to the paper ballot system for conducting polls and said there is no way the country will be “intimidated, bullied or coerced” into giving up electronic voting machines (EVMs).

EVMs have been the subject a political slugfest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which supports their use, and Opposition parties led by the Congress, which alleges they can be tampered to rig election results.

“I would like to make it very clear that we are not going back to the era of ballot papers,” Arora said, speaking at an international conference on making elections inclusive and accessible. “We are open to any criticism, any feedback from any stakeholder, including from political parties, they are the biggest stakeholders. At the same time, we are not going to be intimidated or bullied or pressured or coerced into giving up these and start the era of ballot boxes,” Arora said.

His statement comes two days after the poll panel asked the Delhi police to initiate action against a US-based cyber expert, Syed Shuja, who alleged in an event in London that the machines were tampered with during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and claimed that EVMs are not tamper proof. Shuja did not provide any proof for his claims, and Congress leader Kapil Sibal faced criticism for being present at the event.

Arora said switching to EVMs has prevented the harassment of polling staff on the ground and has cut counting time. “It is the ECI of the past and the future, not going back to that era of ballot paper and that era where we had ballots being lifted and musclemen being involved and the delay in counting and too much harassment of the polling staff on the ground,” Arora said.

The Election Commission of India, which invited political parties as well as technical experts to a challenge in June 2017, where they could exhibit how the EVMs can be manipulated, has been asserting that the security of the machines is foolproof. It has also time and again reiterated that malfunctioning of EVMs cannot be rigged. “Six incidents were quoted from 1.76 lakh polling booths in the last round of assembly polls in five states .

There were some lapses which were on EVMs not used; disciplinary action was taken swiftly. I am not defending those, we should have zero tolerance for such lapses…EVMs having been used for two decades now, VVPATs [voter verifiable paper audit trail] since Himachal Pradesh election are here to stay,” he said.The poll panel has also been pointing out how using paper trail machines or VVPATs along with the electronic voting machines has added a layer of security to the polling process. VVPAT machines allow a voter to see who they have voted for by displaying an image for seven seconds.

The slips generated are stored in the machine and used for tallying votes recorded in the EVMs. Reacting to the CEC’s statement, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, “We have already commented on this issue earlier as well. Question is not whether EVMs can be tampered with or not, the question is that today there is a sentiment in the country that EVMs can be tampered and democracy thrives on people’s faith. People should have faith that nothing can meddle with the electoral system.”

He said the Congress “humbly requests” the EC to consider these doubts.

“As per Constitution’s section 324 EC has been given the mandate to look after the electoral system, but EC is not the only stake holder in India’s constitution,” he said. The BJP for its part accused the Congress of undermining the electoral process.

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “The Congress wants to dispute the core of election process by raising the bogey of EVMs, posing a severe threat to democracy. Obviously they see a complete decimation [of their party] in the 2019 elections.”

Jagdeep Chhokar of the election watchdog, ADR favoured the current system of using VVPATS with the EVMs.

“I believe EVMs and VVPATs used together is a robust system. The event in London did not put forth any proof, it was all talk. They can perhaps increase the percentage of tallying the votes registered in the EVMs and VVPATs from the current one booth per constituency,” he said.