The Karnataka Government’s decision to revert to ballot papers for elections to local bodies appears to be more of a political move to keep the pot boiling in Congress’s campaign against Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the electoral system, than building voters’ trust. Congress – especially the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi – has been aggressively campaigning against the Election Commission and the electoral system.
In a move that is seen as an effort to give more credence to the party’s ongoing campaign, the state cabinet recently decided to recommend to the State Election Commission (SEC) to replace EVMs with ballot papers in local body elections, though the former is commonly used in elections across the country.
In a candid admission to the reasons behind the government’s thinking, Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president DK Shivakumar described it as a “political decision” as the party believes in the ballot paper system.
Further, the Congress leader stated that the party has consistently expressed its dissatisfaction over the EVMs. Now that an opportunity has arisen, they have decided to opt for ballot papers and that there was nothing wrong in it.
The State Government may be well within its rights to decide on opting for ballot papers in the local body polls, but when it is making such a significant change, it needs to clearly spell out the reasons and take all stakeholders into confidence.
It is the duty and responsibility of the State Government to explain to the commoner the rationale behind taking a step back in terms of the electoral system.
In India, EVMs were introduced as part of the efforts to reform the electoral process and address shortcomings in the ballot paper system. The EVM was first conceived in 1977 when the prototype was developed by Electronics Corporation of India Limited. For the first time, it was used in 50 polling stations in North Paravur Assembly segment by-elections in Kerala in May 1982. Over the years, they replaced the ballot paper system in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls across India. Most major political parties opposed the EVMs at different times after losing elections. The decision to replace EVMs with paper ballots withstood judicial scrutiny. The Election Commission of India (ECI) eventually introduced a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) to further bolster the system, as it allowed voters to verify if their vote was cast correctly.
Former bureaucrats with experience in conducting polls with ballot papers as well as EVMs view the State Government’s decision to revert to ballot paper voting as a regressive step, as it comes with many challenges. According to them, the number of invalid/rejected votes will be very high due to a lack of clear marking on ballot papers by voters, and also provide a high scope for manipulation.
However, the SEC, which conducts rural and urban local body elections, is confident of handling the task. SEC Commissioner GS Sangreshi says the State Government has proposed to hold panchayat and urban local bodies’ elections by using ballot papers and they are prepared to do so. Rejecting the allegations that it is a regressive move, the Commissioner says paper balloting is one of the best methods available in a democracy. The SEC will also be revising the voters’ list.
However, the opposition BJP sees it as a move to impress Rahul Gandhi and wants the ECI to issue clear directions to the SEC. On its part, the ECI has to do everything possible to address the concerns expressed by the political parties and take proactive measures to ensure that people do not have any doubts about the system. It should also look into Karnataka IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge’s suggestion on conducting a court-monitored technical audit of EVMs by the Government of Karnataka in collaboration with reputed research and development facilities in Bengaluru.
Ensuring transparency and trustworthiness of the system is a collective responsibility of the government, the ECI, political parties, civil society groups, and even the voters. But, unfortunately, politics often takes precedence over other aspects.