Dimapur, May 18 (MExN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) on Wednesday reiterated its demand for removing the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) system of voting. It further informed that it is planning to submit a representation to Election Commission of India (ECI) demanding VVPAT printout be used as ballot paper in voting wherein the voter after verifying the printout from the VVPAT machine, can stamp it and drop it into the ballot box.
In a press release, NPCC President K Therie stated that the matter was seriously considered during the Congress’ recent Udaipur Chintan Shivir, adding that EVMs ‘lack transparency, can be tampered with and are vulnerable and unreliable.’ Further, with over 19 Lakh EVMs missing, voters have totally lost their trust in the EVM system, he said.
However, since the demand for paper ballot represented by NGOs is pending with ECI, Congress has decided to wait for ECI’s reply, and the NPCC is submitting the representation along with one day polling and simultaneous counting, the release stated.
Meanwhile, the release stated that the Udaipur Declaration on May 15 “believes citizens have to come out of the tragedy of divide and rule based on religious lines.”
“Besides the religious divide, division of votes through the multi-party system is responsible for keeping the majority in the opposition and discontented with the BJP ruling central government,” it said.
It further stated that the ‘religious divide has polarised not only society but even the Executive and the Judiciary too,’ and alleged that they are used to “ill-treat secular leaders.” The Congress’ Udaipur Nav Sankalp calls for India to unite in removing the ‘communal demon,’ the release stated.
