BENGALURU: The Karnataka Assembly on Monday passed The Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2026, to replace Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with ballot papers to conduct elections to rural local bodies amid legislators from the Opposition BJP and JDS staging a walkout, calling the move regressive. LoP R Ashoka even tore a copy of the Bill before exiting the House.
Once it becomes an Act, the polls to local bodies will be conducted using the electoral list prepared by the State Election Commission (SEC) and not the electoral list of the Election Commission of India (ECI) prepared to conduct Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.
BJP MLAs accused the Ruling Congress in the state of conspiring to misuse government machinery to win elections by rigging.
The Bill seeks to replace EVMs with ballot papers in gram, taluk and zilla panchayat elections, with the State Government arguing that the move is aimed at restoring transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.
Hitting out at the Bill, LoP Ashoka said, “The Congress MLAs, who have won polls through EVMs, do not deserve to be in the House.” He and other Opposition members later staged a walkout demanding that the Bill be withdrawn. The Bill was passed by a voice vote.
Earlier, defending the Bill, RDPR and IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge said, “The principle of secrecy of the ballot is the cornerstone of free and fair elections.” He said that trust in EVMs has been decreasing in recent times and hence the need to return to the ballot system. Further, he said the poll body has no answers to the questions posed by several sections of society. He added that several states continue to hold panchayat polls using ballot papers.
In Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jammu Kashmir Assembly polls, there was an abnormal rise in polling after 5 pm, Priyank said, pointing out a significant mismatch of votes polled and counted, adding that the credibility of EVMs was in question. “Under Article 326 of the Constitution, it guarantees us the Right to Vote. Elections must be transparent, free, and fair,” he said.
“In UP’s Mathura, the votes polled were 10,88,706, and the votes counted were 10,98,112... the difference was 9,906. Not only Congress, but others too had also sought a clarification from the ECI. But the poll body did not reply,” he said. As 100% counting of VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) slips cannot be done, the Karnataka government has decided to conduct polls to rural local bodies through ballots instead of EVMs, the minister added.
Hitting back, Ashoka said Karnataka, considered a technology hub and progressive state, should be a role model to other states. “It was the Congress at the Centre under former PM Rajiv Gandhi that introduced EVMs with wisdom. Many elections have been conducted through EVMs, and the Supreme Court, which dealt with the cases against its use, has ordered that the EVMs are foolproof and elections can be conducted with them,” Ashoka said.“The Congress won 136 seats in the 2023 Assembly polls in Karnataka, but lost the Lok Sabha polls miserably. Instead of finding out the reasons for the defeat, the Congress is blaming the EVMs,” he said.
Interestingly, the Bill claimed that there is no extra expenditure involved in the proposed legislative measure, which the Opposition parties objected to. Replying, Priyank and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil clarified that it may involve expenditure.