The Election Commission will soon convene an all-party meet to discuss the issue of reliability of electronic voting machines (EVM). The assurance came after a delegation of 16 opposition parties on Monday urged the EC to revert to the paper ballot system, claiming the faith of the people in the EVMs has “eroded”.
Earlier, the Commission also discussed the unprecedented election-day violence and poor voter turnout in the bypoll to the Srinagar lok Sabha seat. It is learnt that the Commission had ignored the advice of the Home Ministry which had said atmosphere was not conducive to hold the polls. Immediately after the announcement of schedule for the byelections on March 10, the Home Ministry had sent a strongly-worded letter to the Commission saying there was no prior consultation with it regarding the bypolls in Srinagar and Anantnag constituencies. While polling in Srinagar was held on Sunday, byelection in Anantnag will be held on Wednesday.
SC to hear plea challenging use of EVMs on April 13
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear on April 13 the pleas challenging the use of EVMs in elections without equipping the machines with voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT). A bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar refused to give separate hearing to a plea filed by former SP lawmaker Ataur Rehman who sought elections with EVMs equipped with VVPAT.