Why Congress Working Committee resolution is silent on EVMs, focus on the ‘entire electoral process’

Consequently, the resolution adopted at the end of the meeting did not mention EVMs. “The CWC believes the integrity of the entire electoral process is being severely compromised. Free and fair elections is a Constitutional mandate that is being called into serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission. Increasing sections of society are becoming frustrated and deeply apprehensive. The Congress will take up these public concerns as a national movement,” read the resolution.

The CWC blamed “electoral malpractices” for the defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra. “The party’s performance in Haryana has been contrary to all expectations. Very simply, the INC should have formed the government in the state by a convincing margin but it didn’t. But there have been electoral malpractices that have influenced the result in the state which have been overlooked. The CWC also accepts that the party’s performance, as indeed that of its MVA allies, in Maharashtra has been inexplicable and is, in fact, shocking. The electoral outcome is beyond normal understanding. It appears to be a clear case of targeted manipulation,” read the resolution.

Sources said among the leaders who argued strongly that the party should demand a return to ballot papers was AICC general secretary and newly elected Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. At its 2018 session, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) passed a resolution saying to “ensure the credibility of the electoral process, the Election Commission should revert to the old practice of paper ballot as major democracies have done”.

Speaking first, Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Singhvi is learnt to have said that the party should take a consistent stand and the first demand should be a return to ballot papers. He argued that since the government and the EC might not agree with that demand, the party should ask for 100% verification of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips to ensure that votes have been recorded correctly. Senior party leader Digvijaya Singh, who spoke next, concurred. AICC treasurer Ajay Maken argued that, as a start, the party should demand that 10 to 20% of the VVPAT slips be given to the voters for verification.

Congress’s Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, argued that the party should not be fixated on EVMs, which are a part of the larger electoral process. He alleged that “electoral malpractice” ranges from the EC’s “partisan behaviour” to tampering of electoral rolls and voter suppression. Sources said Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, agreed with Gogoi’s suggestion, arguing that EVMs should be part of the larger demand for free and fair elections. He told the CWC that the party should take a clear stand and said he never hesitates to take a position, be it on caste census, the Adani issue, or the Constitution and the idea of India.

Priyanka asked the party leaders who gave the suggestions to practise them first. She was said to be clear that a return of the ballot paper was the only option to ensure free and fair polls. Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor’s was perhaps the only contrarian view on the issue of EVMs. Gandhi, sources said, told him that the EVM issue had a lot of resonance among people.

Panel to examine Maharashtra debacle

Like it did in Haryana, the party has decided to set up an “internal committee” to look into its electoral performance in Maharashtra.

Asked why the resolution makes no mention of EVMs, the AICC general secretary in charge of organisation, K C Venugopal, told reporters, “We clearly emphasised that electoral malpractices happened during these elections. We have already sent a technical team to Haryana and are going to send a team to Maharashtra also. We will have a detailed analysis at the booth level. There are so many complaints … about the voters’ list and a discrepancy in polling numbers. We will do a thorough analysis. There will be two levels of analysis, one political and another technical.”

AICC media department chairman Pawan Khera said, “The issue is not just about EVMs. It is about the entire electoral process. We have been complaining about the illegal addition and deletion of names in the voters’ list. But there was no response from the EC. We had flagged the issue of batteries after the Haryana elections, again no response. So, it is not just about the EVMs, it is about the entire electoral process. How it is being compromised is a cause of concern.”

While several leaders spoke about the Assembly election debacles, three leaders from Haryana — Randeep Singh Surjewala, Kumari Selja, and Deepender Hooda — did not speak at the meeting. In an apparent reference to Haryana, Chhattisgarh leader Tamradhwaj Sahu argued that the party should ensure that one person is not given the entire charge of the party’s campaign and candidate selection. In the end, Kharge said that while the AICC was being blamed for everything, it was the Pradesh Congress Committees that took all the decisions. He said the AICC “cannot appoint even a peon” without the approval of the state units.

The CWC resolution also criticised the government for its “stubborn refusal” to allow discussions in Parliament on the Adani bribery controversy, the continued violence in Manipur, and the “systematic attempts of the BJP to foment communal tensions in different states, most recently in UP”, leading to a washout of the first week of the Winter Session.