OPPOSITION PARTIES, including Congress and NCP, have extended their support to the demand for scrapping electronic voting machines (EVM) and conducting the upcoming Assembly elections through ballot papers. An anti-EVM march, under the aegis of the ‘EVM Virodhi Rashtriya Jan Andolan’, will be held on August 9 from August Kranti Maidan to Cahitya Bhoomi in which leaders of all state Opposition parties are set to participate. “In the Lok Sabha elections, even in places where candidates were reasonably confident of winning, they have ended up losing by huge margins. In some places, candidates have got less number of votes than the number of their family members. This has led to doubt that there is something wrong with the EVMs,” NCP state president Jayant Patil said. “The NCP is extending its support to this movement that has been initiated by independent non-political groups against EVMs,” he added. In a meeting held in Mumbai, the patrons of EVM Virodhi Rashtirya Jan Andolan demanded that the state elections be held on ballot papers. Representatives from all major parties in Maharashtra were present for the meeting. “People believe there is something fishy about EVMs. This belief permeates a large section. When so many people doubt this, it is the responsibility of the EC to remove these doubts. We support the demand for holding elections on ballot paper and will do all to make this movement a success,” state Congress president Balasaheb Thorat said.
