Urban Mirror Correspondent
New Delhi, May 30: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) expressed concern over malfunctioning of large number of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Audit Trail Machines (VVPATs) during by-elections in several states. The LGP asked the Election Commission to ensure the proper functioning of these machines to keep the voting process credible and transparent.
The spokesman of the party said here on Wednesday that irrespective of other political parties making hue and cry over use of EVMs, the LGP believed that these machines are still best bet for efficiently holding the elections in the country. However recurring complaints about malfunctioning of these during voting is certainly matter of concern and needed to be rectified in view of state assembly and parliamentary election in near future. The spokesman said while demand of going back to old ballot paper process is illogical, the needle of suspicion being raised regularly over these machines is not in the interest of free and fair electoral process in the country and the commission should take adequate corrective measures, including ensuring these machines to be all weather proof, to remove suspicion from the mind of people.
The spokesman said the problem in the by-elections earlier this week has triggered a major political controversy, especially opposition parties taking up the matter reiterating their demand for re-starting ballot paper method. The spokesman said adverse perception among the people has been created over the honest and transparent functioning of these machines. Instead of just dismissing the issue as baseless or exaggerated, the onus lies on the election commission to make the process even more robust and transparent to restore the confidence of the common man in the system.
The spokesman said even though problem of malfunctioning required to be set right urgently the EVM model cannot cannot be termed as flawed. These machines have saved the election process from decades of looting and stashing of ballot papers into ballot boxes at the polling stations by hooligans and other anti-social elements. The spokesman said the commission’s electoral efficiency should not come at the cost of credibility.
