TCN News
EVM Virodhi Rashtriya Jan Andolan – a group comprising different organisations and people from all walks of life have organised a mass protest against EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines ) and demand for paper ballot system.
In their call for the protest, the ‘EVM Virodhi Rashtriya Jan Andolan’ say that EVMs have been manipulated which is evident on the website of the Election Commission (EC) where the “votes counted” do not match with “votes polled”, in all the 48 constituencies in Maharashtra and also match in 203 assembly constituencies of Madhya Pradesh also.
Many people from across the country have been posting on social media about the discrepancies in the votes in their constituencies. There have been cases of malfunctioning of EVMs and suspicious movements of thousands of EVMs, which were even found in hotel rooms all which go to say that EVMs have been tampered and the elections are not being held in a fair manner.
The Andolan members also say that the Election Commission, like all other institutions has been subverted by Modi. when the EC was asked to go ahead with the Ballot Papers, the excuse they gave was a ridiculous one. The EC had given an extremely absurd reason on 19th January 2019. The EC stated, “We do not have sufficient time to go for the paper ballot”.
For 60 years, the EC used to print ballot papers after the scrutiny and withdrawal of nomination forms. The election was supposed to be held in April and May, but the EC said it did not have time to opt for ballot papers.
A majority of the democratic nations of the world use Ballot Paper and have discarded the EVMs. And we in India should do the same because EVMs pose a clear danger to our entire Electoral Parliamentary Constitutional Democracy and thus must be immediately discarded and done away with which is why they have called for a national day of protest on the 30th of May appealing citizens, social movements and political parties to come out and organise protests in all the cities, towns and villages across the country.
Talking to TwoCircles.net, one of the organisers Ravi Bhilane said, “ Many non-political organisations are calling us up to say they will join us in the protest tomorrow. We are hoping even the political parties will join us. We have sent our message across several states in India and want that the people come out and protest against this EVM Sarkar.”
“It is clear that the EVMs have been manipulated because we all know the voters were not pleased with the BJP Government. They were angry over many issues and did not want to vote BJP in power. We want free and fair elections which is through paper ballots.”
“We will all gather at CSTM subway No. 1, near Azad Maidan, at 5.00pm tomorrow, Thursday, 30th May 2019. There will be sloganeering to make the Supreme Court take notice. We are hopeful that many others will join us to express their anger and disappointment” he added.
Their slogans are : EVM HATAO – DESH BACHAO
SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY – SAVE INDIA!
The EVM Virodhi Rashtriya Jan Andolan want the Supreme Court to set aside these elections and do away with the EVMs.
Incidentally there are on-line petitions addressed to the President circulating to ban EVMs and bring back paper ballot system.