Rahul turns up the heat on EVMs, to lead a delegation of opposition parties to EC

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday announced that a delegation comprising Opposition leaders will meet officials from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday to discuss their concerns about “irregularities” in the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

The Congress President made the announcement after meeting Opposition leaders at the Constitution Club in New Delhi.

“The main issue with the EVMs is that there is a doubt in the minds of many people in this country about the functioning of the EVM and so we want to create a back-up system so that people can be certain about what is going on,” said Rahul, responding to a question on EVMs.

“It is about building the confidence of people in the electoral process and yes we are looking at that measure,” the Congress President added.

Criticising the budget presented by interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, Rahul told the media, “You can waive off ₹3.5 lakh crore in loans of 15 people, but allot only ₹17 per day to farmers. He said that the announcement to give ₹6,000 per annum to each farmer is “is an insult.”

“I do not think giving the farmer ₹17 a day addresses anything. There could not be a bigger insult than this,” he emphasised.

Taking potshots at the government over the worsening unemployment situation, Rahul remarked, “As far as jobs are concerned, everybody knows we are on a 45-year low. So, there is a complete failure on these two fronts, both of which are very critical.”

Outlining his poll planks, the Congress president stated that the next Lok Sabha elections would be fought on factors such as “corruption within the Narendra Modi-led government on the Rafale deal, demonetisation and agriculture (farm distress).”

The meeting was attended by Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi among others.