"Democracy too precious to be left to technology," Congress MP Manish Tewari says ECI should consider paper ballots for elections
Oct 30, 2024
New Delhi [India], October 30 : Congress MP Manish Tewari said on Wednesday that the Election Commission of India (ECI) should "very seriously consider" using paper ballots to conduct elections, and that democracy is too precious to be left to technology.
"All across the world, without exception, even in those countries where EVMs were invented or used even before India, everybody has gone back to paper ballots because democracy is too precious to be left to technology. The Election Commission should very seriously not only consider but take the initiative of taking this country back to paper ballots. Democracy is too precious to be left to technology," he told ANI.
The ECI on Tuesday categorically rejected allegations made by the Congress party regarding irregularities in the recent Haryana elections, labelling them as "baseless, misplaced, and devoid of facts."
Moreover, in a letter to the Congress party, the Commission urged them to refrain from making unfounded claims after every election, accusing the party of creating "generic" doubts without substance.
ECI advised Congress to adopt firm measures to curb this tendency, cautioning that irresponsible allegations, especially around sensitive times like polling and counting days, could lead to public unrest, turbulence, and chaos.
The Congress MP further questioned how an EVM can have 99 pc battery after being used for the whole day, claiming, "It absolutely defies any law of science that a machine, an EVM, can be in use for a whole day from 8 in the morning till 6 in the evening or from 9 in the morning till 5 in the evening and have 99% battery life once the machine is powered down, it is stored in a strong room and then brought out a couple of days later and the votes are counted."
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Tarun Chugh said that the Congress is a "sinking ship" which alway blamed EVM's for their electoral loss.
"Congress is a sinking ship which is thoughtless and policy less...They blame the EVM for their loss (in the election). The Congress party, whenever it wins an election, whether it's in Karnataka or Telangana at that time, considers EVM and the election commission to be okay...Despite losing so many elections their ego is high," he told ANI.
