Party plenary, the first to be held after elevation of Rahul Gandhi as prez, demands dumping of EVMs, rejects simultaneous polls
Notwithstanding major losses of the BJP and victory of opposition parties in many of the recent Lok Sabha and assembly by-elections, the Congress on Saturday asserted the need to revert to paper ballot again.
Taking an unequivocal stand, the Congress in its political resolution said, "there are apprehensions among the political parties and the people over the misuse of EVMs to manipulate the outcome contrary to the popular verdict."
Besides Congress, several opposition parties, including Mayawati's BSP, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Left parties and many civil society groups have contested claims of EVMs being foolproof, especially after landslide win of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls where it secured 325 seats out of 403.
A challenge organised by the Election Commission to hack into the EVMs under controlled environment also failed to satisfy some political parties. They fear and allege that the Modi government is deliberately losing bypolls to save it from charges of managing EVMs in 2019 Lok Sabha polls when it will matter the most.
Noting that the Election Commission has the Constitutional mandate to ensure free and fair elections and voting and counting process must remain transparent to retain people's faith in integrity of electoral system, the Congress asked the Election Commission to "revert to the old practice of paper ballot, as most major democracies have done".
Calling the BJP "authoritarian, divisive and disruptive", the Congress in its political resolution called the BJP's move to hold simultaneous elections as misplaced" and "incompatible with the Constitution, as also impractical".
Facing the challenge of defections in the party and in the process losing states like Goa and Manipur as BJP poached many of its MLAs, the Congress sought debarring defectors from contesting elections for six years to check the "brazen misuse of money power to create political instability".
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