MC polls: Congress seeks return to ballot papers, cites trust deficit in EVMs

A Congress delegation, led by state party president Udai Bhan, submitted a memorandum to State Election Commissioner Dhanpat Singh, demanding that the upcoming local bodies' elections be conducted using ballot papers instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The party leaders raised concerns about the reliability of EVMs and the possibility of hacking, stating that despite repeated objections at different forums, the authorities had failed to address public grievances.

In the memorandum, the Congress delegation said, “The authorities concerned have failed to address the grievances raised from time to time and discharge their duty of convincing the public that EVMs are indeed fair.”

The memorandum further alleged discrepancies in the recent Haryana Assembly elections, including mismatch in votes polled and counted and unexpected hike in vote percentages.

“The trust reposed in constitutional authorities started shaking in view of such occurrences. Since faith in EVMs is eroding among the public, it is expedient to revert to the old practice of ballot papers. Trust and faith are the main pillars of the election process and must be maintained and preserved.”

The delegation pointed out that Uttarakhand recently reverted to the use of ballot papers in local bodies' elections and urged Haryana’s State Election Commission to follow suit.

The Congress delegation included MLAs BB Batra, Ashok Arora, Geeta Bhukkal, former minister Karan Singh Dalal and former MLA Lehri Singh.

The Congress has decided to contest elections for mayors and ward members in eight Municipal Corporations on the party symbol. It will also field candidates for the president posts in four Municipal Councils.

Udai Bhan announced that interested candidates must submit their applications by 5 pm on February 11 to the district committee incharge of local body elections.

Bhan also criticised the state government, alleging that Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) communities were not being allotted seats as per the reservation policy.