Elections hacked, paper ballot reliable

SHILLONG, AUG 5: Making a case for going back to ballot papers voting, the United Democratic Party (UDP) informed that it has requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to probe into the alleged “nexus” between the EVM technicians and political parties during the Meghalaya assembly election held earlier this year.

Former deputy chief minister and UDP working president Bindo M Lanong told reporters during a news conference on Monday, “We have asked for immediate enquiry into the nexus between the EVM technicians and some political parties.”

Lanong said the demand for a probe forms part of the demand to revert back to the old secret ballot system that was submitted to the ECI.

Lanong alleged that electronic voting machines were hacked during the last elections .He said, “The company who had supplied the EVMs and the technicians are involved in hacking the machines. Hacking was done in 15-17 constituencies.”

Lanong, who lost the election by huge margin, said, “We are sure of the information that there was selected hacking in the last assembly elections.”

But Lanong refused to name the political parties who he alleged was involved in hacking and but indirectly hinted when he said he was surprise over the performance of the Congress who secured 29 seats at a time when there was internal infighting.

Lanong said the demand for reverting to the old paper ballot was made as it is more “trustworthy” and informed that the UDP will submit the report on the recent Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting on the issue to the ECI for its examination.

According to Lanong, during the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee under the chairmanship of Shantaram Naik held in Shillong to discuss about the transparency of EVMs, several parties of the North East including Congress too had expressed reservation on the use of EVMs.

Lanong also demanded that during the forthcoming elections to the three Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in the state, EVMs must not be used during the voting.

Earlier the Meghalaya district council affairs minister HDR Lyngdoh informed that the government has decided to continue with the implementation the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the 2014 MDC elections. He had said that the government has procured EVMs costing upto Rs two crores for all the three district councils.

Reacting to Lyngdoh’s statement, Lanong said the UDP will adopt the wait and watch policy.-By Our Reporter