70 per cent parties tell Election Commission to revert to ballot paper voting: Congress

Photo: Representational.

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday said that over 70 per cent of political parties have put forth a demand before the Election Commission for reverting to the old voting system of ballot paper. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the demand has been made since there are doubts on the credibility of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and asked the EC to reintroduce ballot papers from the next election. "Around 70 per cent political parties have demanded that the EC revert to the old system of ballot paper during elections. The BJP was singled out today," he told reporters here after the Election Commission held a meeting with national and regional parties. The Congress leader said alternatively the opposition parties have suggested that in at least 30 per cent of the polling booths there should be paper trail of EVMs to check the authenticity of votes cast. The Congress has demanded that ceiling be imposed on the expenditure by political parties during poll campaign, Singhvi said. Currently, there is a limit on poll expenses by a candidate in Lok Sabha and state assemblies but there is no limit on the expenses made by a political party during elections. "Unregulated party expenditure is a dangerous proposition....There should be a ceiling on the expenditure by political parties," he said. The opposition party has demanded weeding out of all duplicate and false voters from the voters list to ensure a free and fair election. The party has alleged that there are 60 lakh duplicate names in the voters list for Madhya Pradesh and another 45 lakh for Rajasthan. Both the states go to polls later this year.