NEW DELHI: Amidst the growing chorus by many political parties for the use of ballot papers in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the poll panel on Monday said that it would provide satisfactory solutions to the concerns raised by the political parties.
Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat said, “We will definitely look into all the suggestions given by them (political parties) and there will be a satisfactory solution to them.” Rawat said this after a meeting with political parties representatives on Monday.
The Election Commission convened the meeting ahead of elections to several state assemblies later this year and the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for early next year. In the meeting, several opposition parties raised the issues of EVM tampering and technical glitches in the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) system.
About 17 political parties including the ally Shiv Sena and Congress have pitched for returning to ballot papers on several occasions. Sources said that representatives many parties including Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Trinamool Congress raised the issue related to faults with EVMs and VVPATs and many of them also suggested going back to the ballot paper system.
Though EVM tampering and VVPAT glitches were not on the agenda, parties raised these issues. Some parties also suggested that the number of constituencies where results of EVM and paper audit trail device are matched be increased to enhance the confidence of voters and parties in the reliability of the voting mode.
Responding to repeated questions on EVMs, Rawat said the EC takes a comprehensive view. “Some of the parties said going back to ballot is really bad as it will bring back booth capturing…we don’t want (that)."
Rawat also voiced his disagreement over the concept of ‘One Nation, One Poll’, saying several opposition parties have opposed the idea and expressed concerns. Rawat also said that it is important to hold an all-party meeting to discuss the simultaneous polls issue.
"Many parties opposed One Nation, One Poll while there were some who made some valid points in favour of simultaneous elections," he said.
The BJP contends that holding polls at the national and state levels together will cut down on the cost of holding the elections.
Political parties urged the Commission to link Aadhar numbers with electors’ detail for better electoral roll management.
Officials said that Rawat urged the representatives of political parties to put forward their views on important issues such as transparency in political funding, media management including that of social media, bringing in trust and confidence of all stakeholders in the voting and counting process and as such strengthening democracy in our country while setting an example globally.
The Chief Election Commissioner mentioned about the challenges faced by all the democracies globally in view of the new media and advancements in information technology. He said the Commission is taking initiatives to prevent such interference.
Some political parties requested the Commission to fix a certain percentage of VVPAT slips-count to enhance the trust in EVM. Commission assured them that it is being looked into with the expert inputs of Indian Statistical Institute.