THE CONGRESS on Tuesday demanded restoration of the old system of conducting elections through ballot papers to replace the electronic voting machines (EVMs). Addressing the media, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said leaders of 12 opposition parties, who met on Monday, were in agreement that EVMs should be removed and the older system should be brought back so that all parties have “faith in the election system”. He said machines that are too “sensitive” to heat or cold cannot be trusted. Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that there is a “huge nexus” between the ruling party and the people involved in incidents of lynching. BJP leaders, he said, are “garlanding” people accused of such acts, and even visiting them in jails. He cited the case of Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, who had met eight men convicted of killing Alimuddin Ansari, a meat trader, in Jharkhand. Kharge said the BJP shows interest in women’s issues only when it leads to votes. He pointed out that even a recent survey by international news agency Thomson Reuters had shown that the image of vis-a-vis women’s safety has taken a beating globally. On the dilution of reservation in institutions of excellence, the Congress leaders pointed out that BJP governments are only allowing single vacancies for each post, so that reservation policies would not be followed. On PM Narendra Modi’s showing on the foreign policy front, in the backdrop of his visits to Pakistan and China earlier, Kharge said those he had hugged — indicating former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif — “woh door ho gaye hain” (they have gone further apart). And the one he had sat on a swing with — Chinese President Xi Jinping — “woh bhi kareeb nahi aa rahe” (they aren’t coming close either).
