Amidst controversy over tempering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) by main Opposition Political Parties and even Apex Court deciding to examine the allegations, Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission (UPSEC) reportedly made a surprise move on Thursday by asking the Election Commission of India (ECI) either to replace old EVMs in the state or allowed to conduct coming Urban Bodies polls in the state in June through ballot papers.
“The EVMs here in the State are old with many lying since 2006 so the SEC had asked ECI to provide latest EVMs for urban local bodies’ polls in the state or allow holding the exercise using paper ballots”, revealed a source in the SEC office here on Thursday.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati had already raised the issue of tempering in EVMs in a big way after her Party faced a worst ever defeat in the recent Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Her Party observed April 11 at `Black Day’ for the Indian Democracy accusing tempering in EVMs as the main reason behind Bharatiya Janta Party’s massive victory.
It may be mentioned the debate over the possibility of tampering of EVMs also echoed in the Supreme Court on Thursdaywhich decided to examine the allegations that these machines were not “foolproof” without a paper trail. The apex court’s decision came on a petition filed by Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which after the drubbing in the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, has claimed large scale tampering of EVMs. A bench of Justices J Chelameswar and Abdul Nazeer issued notices to the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) asking them to respond to the plea challenging the use of EVMs without paper trail.