Congress writes to Election Commission on Gujarat polls

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India (ECI) asking for the implementation of the Supreme Court orders on usage of EVMs with VVPAT. A delegation, led by senior Congress leader and MP Ahmed Patel, Madhusudan Mistry, Deepak Babaria, Vivek Tankha and Randeep Singh Surjewala, met the EC in this regard. The Congress wants that in the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat, the EC should use all EVMs which have the VVPAT facility attached to them so that a paper trail comes out after casting of vote.

Apprehending use of EVM machines without VVPAT in the Gujarat Assembly elections, the Congress sought clarification from the EC in this regard. “There is some whisper in public domain that EVMs sent by the Election Commission for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections are the same as used in the UP Assembly polls. In this regard, we express our concerns and request the Election Commission to clarify inter alia whether VVPAT machines will be used in all Assembly constituencies for the Gujarat elections or not.”

The Congress also demanded that the EC should widely publicise the usage of EVM with VVPAT in Gujarat. The party also demanded that VVPAT machines and the paper trail collection boxes should be identified with the unique identification serial number.

After the UP Assembly elections earlier this year, there were allegations that EVMs were tampered with. The ECI asked the political parties to hack the EVMs. After an all-party meeting, the EC gave an assurance that its EVMs are tamper proof and, henceforth, EVMs with VVPAT will be used in all elections.

“We request the Election Commission to immediately issue appropriate instructions and/ or directions and/ or orders to ensure that free and fair elections are conducted by VVPAT machines,” the Congress memorandum read.