After the poll debacle of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in three heartland states, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has reiterated his demand for replacing the electronic voting machine with the traditional ballot paper system.

Akhilesh Yadav specifically quoted the ballot polling system followed in the United States of America.

“Why in India do we want election results within a few hours of counting of votes? India is playing second fiddle to the USA in all respects like economy and technology then why can’t we follow the US model of polling where voting and counting of votes run into months?” Akhilesh Yadav asked here on Saturday.

He added, “In Uttarakhand tunnel collapse incident when the American machine failed in the rescue operation, the Indian model of rat hole miners came to the rescue of the 41 workers trapped in the tunnel in Uttarkashi.”

The SP chief, on Saturday, felicitated 13 workers who conducted the rat hole mining operation to rescue the 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel. Each worker was given a cheque of Rs 1 lakh and angavastram.

“The issue is not whether SP wins or loses the election. The issue is retaining the people’s confidence. The EVMs and the election results in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have eroded the confidence of the people in electoral democracy. This is a dangerous situation in a democratic polity,” Yadav said.

He added, “It may be true that the EVMs are based on the state-of-the-art technology and are tamper proof, yet people have no faith in the machine and the SP favours the ballot paper system.”

Referring to the notice issued to the SP by the Election Commission of India in response to the allegation that names have been deleted from the rolls, Akhilesh Yadav said “the party furnished the names of 18,000 voters of the Muslim community whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls along with the affidavit but no action has so far been taken by the poll panel against the officers responsible for the glaring irregularity”.

Yadav said similar irregularity was being done in Kannauj district, where names of the new voters were not being added in the electoral rolls. He said the SP district president said that they were told by the administration that the server was down.

Yadav said the server started working after a protest was staged by the SP workers.