Mamata Banerjee raises questions over EVMs, asks Opposition to demand return of ballot papers

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo also urged all the Opposition parties to come together and unitedly demand return of ballot papers for elections.

TMC supremo has also accused BJP of mixing politics with religion. (Image: PTI)

Kolkata: Days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA formed the government at the Centre after bagging a thumping majority in Lok Sabha Elections 2019, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday raised questions over the voting machines used in the polls. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo also urged all the Opposition parties to come together and unitedly demand return of ballot papers for elections. Banerjee said a fact-finding committee should be constituted to find out the details about EVMs. "We have to save the democracy. We don’t want machines, we demand a return to the ballot paper system. We will start a movement and it will be initiated from Bengal," she told reporters after a meeting with party MLAs and state ministers to review TMC's drubbing in the elections. "I will ask all the 23 political parties in the opposition to come together and demand the return of ballot papers. Even a country like the US has banned EVMs," she said. Banerjee also alleged that BJP has used money, muscle, institutions, media and the government to win the elections. The BJP managed to win 18 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state because of the Left Front, she said. “The BJP managed only 18 seats not 23 as they were claiming... And that also because of the Left Front parties. But we (TMC) have managed to increase four per cent of our vote share,” she added. The West Bengal CM has also been in a war of words with the BJP over the issue of ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans raised by crowd in the state. While the saffron party has repeatedly accused her of getting angry merely on hearing the slogan, the TMC supremo has accused them of mixing politics with religion. "Jai Sia Ram, Jai Ram ji ki, Ram naam Satya hai etc have religious and social connotations. We respect these sentiments. But BJP is using religious slogan Jai Sri Ram as their party slogan in a misconceived manner by way of mixing religion with politics (sic)," she said in a Facebook post lately. The TMC chief also said that attempts were being made to propagate the ideology of hatred, which should be opposed. Banerjee was recently seen losing her cool twice in the past few weeks over people chanting 'Jai Sri Ram' at a few places in the state, as her motorcade passed through those areas.