By IANS,
New Delhi: Thirteen leaders of various political parties have approached the Election Commission, seeking an all-party meet to discuss whether electronic voting machines (EVMs) are liable to be manipulated with an aim to rig the election.
The leaders have jointly written to the commission on the issue.
Among them are Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha, Communist Party of India-Marxist general Secretary Prakash Karat, Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan, Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu, Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh.
“Many democracies like Germany, Ireland, Holland and the US have either banned the use of EVMs or imposed stringent safeguards for their use,” said a letter signed by the 13 leaders and sent to the chief Election Commissioner April 24.
“This was done as storing voting data only electronically is considered non-transparent, unsafe, unreliable and prone to manipulations,” the letter said.
“We have serious apprehension regarding the use of EVMs in elections,” it said.
“The gold standard throughout the world today is that there must be a verifiable, physical record of voting for all concerned to repose confidence in the election results,” said the leaders, seeking an all-party meeting to discuss the issue.