Akhilesh, Kejriwal in Opposition Committee to Stop 'EVM Manipulation by BJP'

Kolkata: A four-member committee of opposition party leaders has been formed after reports of EVM manipulation by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday.

“This committee will comprise SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and BSP’s Satish Misra,” said TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

In addition to evaluating the functioning of EVMs and finding ways to stop any malpractice, the committee will suggest electoral reforms to the Election Commission before the Lok Sabha polls, Banerjee added.

The announcement was made after Banerjee hosted a tea party here for the top leaders of 14 opposition parties who participated in her united opposition rally.

Explaining their stand, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “There are only a few countries left which use EVMs for elections. Why is India not thinking about reintroducing paper ballots? America, Holland, France and Germany are now using paper ballots after experimenting with EVMs. But since there is little time left for the general elections, our demand is that VVPATs must be present in all EVMs. Next week we will go to Election Commission to discuss about this.”

National Conference (NC) chairman Farooq Abdullah had called the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) "chor machine" while speaking at the rally and demanded that the ballot paper system be reinstated for the sake of transparency.

"The EVM is chor machine. Honestly speaking, it is so. Its use must be put to an end. Nowhere in the world is the machine used," he said.

"The opposition parties should approach the Election Commission and the President of India to stop the use of the EVM and bring back the old ballot papers for the sake of transparency," he added.

BSP general secretary Satish Mishra said that there were reports of EVM tampering in the recent state assembly elections in the country. "Hence, we believe it is necessary to go for electoral reforms."

Earlier, on Saturday at the United India rally, Mamata said, “What Pakistan failed to do in the last 70 years, they have finished the country in last 4 and half years. They (BJP) are doing politics with the help of looted money.”

“Everyone knows the volume of scam involved in Rafael deal. From where BJP is getting so much of money,” she asked.