Political parties demand audit of EVMs with the print out of VVPAT to ensure fair elections

New Delhi, Aug 28: In the all-party meeting with the Election Commission of India (ECI), Aam Aadmi Party demanded that if the ECI was unable to conduct elections on ballot paper it should at least get audited 20 per cent electronic voting machine (EVM) with print out of the VVPAT. If both are the same well and good else there is a need to go back to old system.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chaddha said, "I have suggested the ECI and also the view of my party that audit of the 20 per cent machine used in the election process must be done after the elections are over to check if there is any discrepancy between the print out and votes in the machine. If they are the same there is no issue but if they don't match then we must go back to ballot paper."

Raghav said that only printer will not solve the purpose but audit is equally important. "Moreover, we are not saying 100 per cent machines to be investigated but audit of at least 20 per cent machine should be done," he said.

It is also said that the slip that comes out after anyone costs his/her votes, it is just for seven seconds which is too less so that should also be increased to at least 15 seconds as the practice is not very regular and people do it once in five years. So it is very difficult to understand the process and see if the print out and their vote are matching are the same.

AAP also questioned that either machine is hacked or there is some malfunctioning in them why votes only go to the BJP. Votes should also go to the Congress, SP, RJD, JD (U), AAP, CPI, AIADMK, DMK or any other party but nothing of that short happens. So this must also be answered.

The other issue that was raised was elections expanses. The BJP and other political parties spend thousands of crores in elections. Raghav said that as per a conservative estimate the BJP had spent Rs 25,000 crore in the 2014 lok Sabha elections and in 2019 they might spend lakh of crores so its time limit, spending limit and many other things must be streamlines. There must be a level playing field for everyone for poor political parties and rich political parties. Voters should not be confused with the election campaign

He added that the auditing of VVPAT with EVM must be done else people of the country will lose faith from the election process of the country. This must be started from the 2019 elections if elections on ballot papers are not possible. Only India conducts election on EVM as even developed countries are taking the rout of ballot paper.