India News
The attitude of the Central Election Commission is giving rise to many suspicions. The commission strongly opposes the demand that elections be conducted through ballot papers instead of EVMs, insisting that in the age of advanced technology, polls must be held using EVMs. Fine — let’s respect that stance.
But when Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi asked that voter details be provided in digital form, the Election Commission said it could only give them in paper form. Moreover, Rahul alleged that they refused to even allow those papers to be scanned — a charge that has gained significance. If the Commission can boldly claim it will conduct elections only via EVMs, it should also be able to answer why it has a problem sharing voter lists in digital format.
If voter details were provided digitally, it wouldn’t take much time to clear doubts. It would be easy to check how many votes exist under one person’s name, in which locations, and even based on photos, where and how many duplicate entries exist. Rahul Gandhi has been publicly stressing this point, yet the Election Commission officials seem indifferent.
In one striking example, when voter details for the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in the Bengaluru Central Parliamentary segment were requested, they were handed over in bundles of paper — stacked seven feet high. Rahul even showed these stacks to the media.
When it comes to votes, the Election Commission lectures about EVMs and modern technology — but when asked for voter details, it responds with mountains of paper. This makes no sense. That’s why the credibility of the EC is now in question. Many believe it is hiding something and taking precautions to ensure its “stash” is not exposed — a suspicion fueled by the conduct of the very institution meant to be independent..
Advertisment
