Kharge blames EVM, raises ‘return to paper ballot’ demand after Congress’s rout in Maharashtra Assembly election- The Week

After the party’s poor show in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly polls, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday stressed the nation should revert to the old paper ballot system for elections. Several Congress had blamed the EVMs for the party’s loss in the Maharashtra election though the Congress-JMM alliance won in Jharkhand Assembly polls.

Addressing party workers during the Constitution Day celebrations at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi, Kharge said they don’t need electronic voting machines and said a major nationwide campaign must be conducted to return to paper ballots for voting. “We don’t want EVMs, we want ballot paper,” he said. Kharge added a campaign on the scale of the Bharat Jodo Yatra must be conducted to return to ballot paper system of polling.

The Congress president said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is afraid of conducting ‘caste census’ as everyone will start demanding their share.

The Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance performed poorly in the Maharashtra election, with the alliance winning less than 100 seats in the recently concluded polls. The Congress, which contested in 101 seats managed to win only 16. Several Congress leaders blamed the functioning of electronic voting machines for the party’s poor performance.

Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Monday charged EVM manipulation led to Maha Vikas Aghadi’s loss in the polls.  “We analysed the Maharashtra poll outcome deeply. We felt that in many places EVMs were manipulated,” PTI reported quoting the Karnataka minister. “The manipulations are done selectively so that no one can question it,” Parameshwara charged.