MDCs prefer paper ballots over EVMs

SHILLONG, JUN 20: Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) MDCsWednesday favoured reverting back to the secret ballot paper instead of the newly introduced Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs) during the forthcoming MDC election next year as most of the council’s members feels voiced their doubts on the EVMs efficiency as they felt it was inconsistent.

The members wanted the KHADC to move a resolution demanding that the government must exempt the MDC elections from using the EVMs and instead use the old secret ballot box system,

Pynthorumkhrah MDC J Basaiawmoit said during the ongoing budget session of the KHADC on Thursday, “The council should move a resolution demanding that the government exempt MDC elections from the use of EVMs and go back to the traditional secret ballot paper to ensure free and fair elections.”

The MDCs said the EVMs can easily be tampered and manipulated and referred to the incidents during the last Meghalaya legislative assembly elections and also the PIL filed by Janata Party president Subramaniam Swamy in the Supreme Court.

Moving the motion Basaiawmoit informed the house that even in his Pynthorumkhrah constituency people had to cast their votes till late night just because of some defects in the EVMs adding around 500 votes from a particular EVM could not be counted from Nongkrem constituency which had led a candidate also an MDC to approach the court on the matter.

While urging the KHADC executive committee to examine the demand, Basaiawmoit questioned as to how the EVM machines can be used here when country like Japan where the EVMs machines are manufactured are still using ballot paper in the elections.

Nongkrem MDC Lambor Malniang, who had contested the MLA elections but lost,  said there are lot of discrepancies in the EVMs that was found in the last elections and added that he has all the reason to demand the non implementation of these machines during the MDC elections.

Mylliem MDC Tielinia Thangkhiew said that if  the voting is reverted to the old secret ballot box system both the voters and the candidates will satisfied with the result in the upcoming elections to the three autonomous district councils of the state.

The state election department has asked the KHADC to purchased EVM machines amounting to crores of rupees to be used in the upcoming MDC election.

KHADC CEM  PN Syiem assured the members that the resolution on the matter would be placed before the house in the next session of the council.- By Our Reporter