Digvijaya Singh suggests new system of counting votes

Digvijaya Singh

Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday suggested a new method to cast and count votes, terming his idea a “reliable system of VVPAT and ballot box.”

According to Singh, voters must get a printout of their voting preference once they press the button on the EVM, instead of the VVPAT machine showing the voting preference on screen for seven seconds. The voters can then put the printouts in a ballot box, the Congress leader said. He said if there is a mismatch between the numbers in the ballot unit and the counting unit, then all the votes in that constituency should be counted only through ballot boxes.

Singh said that the Election Commission is aware of technical glitches in the system but continues to be silent.

The BJP claimed Singh had made it clear that his party was sensing defeat.