Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Opposition Leaders Meet Election Commission, Demand Counting of 50% of VVPAT Slips

New Delhi, February 4: As the Lok Sabha Elections are drawing closer, the demand of opposition to using VVPATs in the upcoming parliamentary elections is gaining momentum. Today opposition leaders met Election Commission over the issue. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister after the meeting said that to bring transparency we should go back to the paper ballot, but due to time constraint, we are demanding that 50 percent of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machine (VVPAT) should be counted at random and be tallied with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). London 'EVM Hackathon' Row: Election Commission Writes to Delhi Police, Seeks FIR Against Syed Shuja.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also reiterated the demand of using VVPATs in the elections. He said, “We all have come here to discuss EVM and VVPAT. If it is not possible to introduce ballot papers then at least 50% of VVPAT should be counted for cross verification with EVM.” Meanwhile, the EC assured the political parties that issues raised by them would be deliberated and examined.

Last Month, Elections Commission Chief Sunil Arora cleared that in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 ballot papers would not be used. The EC chief said, “I would like to make it very clear that we are not going back to the era of ballot papers.” The statement came amid the fear of Opposition parties that EVMs could be hacked. Earlier on January 19, Arora had said that EVMs were being treated like a "football" by parties suffering electoral losses. He had also stated the voting equipment was foolproof as far as manipulations were concerned and those facing technical snags were promptly fixed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 04, 2019 08:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).