Congress wary of remote voting, tells EC need to restore trust in electoral system first

“In spite of their widespread use, EVMs have aroused much controversy in India,” Ramesh said. “Unfortunately, fears of their misuse have not been systematically addressed. Voters and parties must have confidence in the electoral system.”

“Now imagine if these suspicious patterns can be extended via a multi-constituency voting machine to other locations. This would seriously undermine trust in the system,” the statement said.

On Thursday, the EC said that it has invited all recognised national and state political parties on January 16 to demonstrate functioning of the Multi-Constituency Remote Electronic Voting Machine and has asked for their written views by January 31.

According to a statement issued by the poll panel, the proposed system can prevent missing out on exercising the right to vote due to internal migration. Disenfranchisement due to migration is not an option in the age of technological advancement, it stated.

Criticising the EC, the Congress cited instances related to the recent Gujarat Assembly polls and accused the poll watchdog of delaying announcement of the election schedule to give “Prime Minister Narendra Modi more time for electioneering in his home-state.” The party stated: “On issue after issue, our representations to the Election Commission result in no action. In Gujarat, this time, we also saw suspicious voting numbers which showed that 10-12% of voters cast their votes in the last hour of voting. This translates into an impossible 25-30 seconds being taken to cast each vote.”

“Now imagine if these suspicious patterns can be extended via a multi-constituency voting machine to other locations. This would seriously undermine trust in the system,” stated Ramesh.

The Congress added that honest engagement with the Opposition’s concerns by the EC can help restore trust in the electoral system.