23 opposition parties ask EC for auditing 50 pc of EVMs before declaring 2019 election results

Reiterating that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were not to be trusted, leaders from 23 opposition parties on Monday demanded from the Election Commission of India that at least 50 per cent of the EVMs be verified against their paper trails before the declaration of results in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Signed by Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar among others, leaders of the opposition parties handed over a memorandum to the EC, also seeking redressal on the issue of tampering.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Ahmed Patel, Shri Anand Sharma from Congress, Chandrababu Naidu (TDP), Majid Menon (NCP), Derek O’Brien(AITC), Prof Ramgopal Yadav (SP), Satish Chandra Misra (BSP), Mohd Salim, TK Rangarajan (CPI-M), Manoj Jha (RJD), Sanjay Singh (AAP),  D Raja (CPI), Danish Ali (JD-S), NK Premchandran (RSP), Badrudin Ajmal(AIUDF), KG Kenye (NPF) are some of the leaders who went to the Election Commission.

The opposition parties cited "suspicious activities" concerning the EVMs during the November-December Assembly polls to five states.

The leaders told the Election Commission the people of the country doubted the efficacy of the EVMs and this issue needs to be redressed.

Talking to the media, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said we apprised EC about the shortcoming of the EVM.

“We have experienced in last three four years that you press any button,vote goes to the BJP. Poll officials could not give satisfactory answer as to why do this happen….since we do not have much time before next general election we could not demand ballot paper for the voting but we have demanded for maximum transparency in the EVM,” he said.

Earlier, leaders of various parties had met at the Constitution Club on Friday and discussed their future strategy on the issue.