A meeting of all recognized national political parties was convened on Tuesday at the Election Commission office in Bhopal to discuss strategies for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. On the instructions of Madhya Pradesh Congress President Jitu Patwari, JP Dhanopia, the Congress party's election commission in-charge, was authorized to represent the party in the meeting. During the meeting, Dhanopia presented the party’s suggestions and concerns before the Election Commission.
Dhanopia emphasized that electronic voting machines (EVMs) often cause confusion and doubts among the public. To address these concerns, he urged the Election Commission to revert to the ballot paper system for future elections, including by-polls. He also recommended increasing the display time of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slip from 7 seconds to 10 seconds. Furthermore, he suggested that VVPAT slips should be deposited in a ballot box for voter verification, and the VVPAT slips should be counted alongside EVM votes before announcing the election results.
The Congress representative also proposed that mock polls be conducted two to three times during the voting day to ensure the accuracy of the EVMs. Additionally, he insisted that presiding officers must complete and provide Form 17C to polling agents after the voting process. He called for the establishment of permanent Block Level Officer (BLO) offices in every Assembly constituency to facilitate continuous voter registration, deletion, and transfer processes.
Dhanopia raised concerns about irregularities by BLOs in adding or deleting voters' names. He recommended that BLOs should be required to prepare a formal report (Panchanama) before removing any voter's name from the list. Moreover, he stressed the need to inform voters whenever changes are made to the voter list, such as alterations in booth numbers or serial numbers, to prevent confusion during elections.
Highlighting discrepancies in the 2023 Assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Dhanopia claimed that there were numerous duplicate entries in the voter lists. He urged the Election Commission to implement a software program to identify and eliminate duplicate entries continuously. He also demanded that political parties be provided with color photo voter lists in both physical and digital formats to make voter identification easier.
Additionally, he recommended linking the voter list with Aadhaar cards and suggested that thumb impressions should be taken during voting to prevent fraudulent voting. Dhanopia also raised concerns about the deployment of Anganwadi workers on election duty, alleging that they influence voters in favor of the ruling party.
He urged the Election Commission to exclude Anganwadi workers from poll-related duties to ensure free and fair elections.
