SP-BSP to hold protest against EVM ‘misuse’ on June 8  

The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party will stage a protest in Lucknow in June 8 against the alleged “misuse” of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) by the ruling BJP in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

The two parties, which got a drubbing despite contesting in an alliance, will also take out a candle light March in the evening between 5-7 pm on the same day as silent protest.

On Sunday, BSP supremo Mayawati convened a meeting of party functionaries in Lucknow to take stock of the situation. The issue of the alleged tampering of EVMs too came up for discussion.

This is not the first time that the SP and BSP are raising the issue of EVM tampering.

After the 2017 Assembly elections in UP -- in which the BJP got a landslide victory  bagging 303 out of 403 seats -- the two UP-based parties had raised this issue, which was also taken up by other opposition parties.

In Maharashtra a campaign is going on demanding return to the paper ballot. Activists are going to stage a protest on June 12 in Mumbai under the leadership of G. B. Parikh and Tushar Gandhi.

Activist  Feroze Mithiborewala said, “We have declared 12th June as a protest day against EVMs. This will be a nationwide protest . And we have the support of people all over India. We are conducting meetings to create awareness among the people and expose EVM fraud.”

He added: “We will demand voting through ballot papers in the next elections. The people are not joyous about the results of this election. A large section of Indians were disappointed with the results declared on 23rd May 2019. In many places the people’s mandate does not match with the results of the EVM. The results of 373 Lok Sabha seats does not tally with the figures of the EVM and the votes cast which is why we are protesting.”