Siddaramaiah demands use of ballot papers for Karnataka Assembly polls

With all the exit polls predicting outright win for the BJP in Gujarat, Siddaramaiah said that it would not have any impact on Karnataka elections.

Amid raging debate over the EVMs and Congress knocking the doors of the Supreme Court seeking counting of VVPAT slips, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has demanded that the state assembly elections, to be held in 2018, be held using ballot papers.

With all the exit polls predicting outright win for the BJP in Gujarat, Siddaramaiah said that it would not have any impact on Karnataka elections.

Speaking to reporters at Raichur, he said, "What we are saying is go to the old (ballot paper) system, what is the difficulty?"

A PTI report quoted Siddaramaiah as saying that he spoken to experts and there were chances that the EVMs could be tampered with.

"They (BJP) have the power. The Election Commission is under them. Though it is an independent constitutional body, they (central government) appoint the Chief Election Commissioner," he said to a query about allegations of EVM tampering.

When asked specifically about the exit polls predictions, the Karnataka Chief Minister said that there are various instances where exit polls have gone wrong.

Eyes set on Karnataka assembly elections 2018, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah kickstarted his month-long yatra on Wednesday. The Congressman chose to begin the campaign from Lingayat heartland Basavakalyan. The CM was in Raichur today.

The Congress is hopeful of Siddaramaiah's yatra being more impactful than the JD (S) or BJP's and lay a foundation not just for the assembly elections in 2018 but also strengthen the Congress on Karnataka for the 2019 parliamentary elections.

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