"We Must Go Back To Ballot Votes": Mallikarjun Kharge At Key INDIA Bloc Meet

The more things change, the more they stay the same - this appears to be the case with the Opposition INDIA bloc, which called for a return to the ballot votes, rejecting the EVMs or Electronic Voting Machines in the light of recent reports about the internal workings of the Election Commission.

The first reported use of the EVM was in the Paravur Assembly Constituency of Kerala in the year 1982, the Election Commission website says. Since 1998, the poll body has increasingly used EVMs instead of ballot boxes and by 2003, all state elections and by-elections were held using EVMs. 

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking at the INDIA bloc meet, listed out five demands: pre-SIR rolls to be used for future elections, an effective appeal mechanism before a voter is removed from poll rolls, protection of eligible voters from exlusion caused by administrative failures, voting through ballots, simple and accessible voter registration for first-time voters.

The comments come in the light of an Indian Express report last week that detailed how Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected on record 14 times over 10 months to decisions and orders related to the SIR process under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The key issues flagged in the Express report include rapid centralisation of the ECINet electoral roll database platform, unilateral changes made to new voter registration forms in Form 6 and decisions regarding voter list deletions during the SIR exercise.

Every citizen must have an equal voice in choosing the government of this country, the Congress chief underscored, adding that this principle is "facing a serious threat".

The 84-year-old Kharge said across the country "citizens and political parties are raising grave concerns about functioning of the Election Commission".

"For years, we have demanded answers on EVMs. We have raised questions about voter-list manipulation and unexplained changes in electoral rolls. Rahul ji showed it with proof that it was done in Mahadevpura, Aland, Haryana and Maharashtra. In the same manner parties of the INDIA group all raised questions and objections in this regard. But alas all in vain," Kharge said, adding that the poll body "looked the other way". 

"On EVMs, our position should also be clear. These are machines that BJP decides to use as per its needs, in Rahul Ji's words - to win, get a hung house or lose an election. So we cannot allow them to use these machines any further, we must go back to ballot votes to restore faith and confidence in India's election system," the Congress chief said.

In a democracy, Kharge said, institutions must earn public trust through transparency.

Kharge pointed out that the poll body's reasoning behind the SIR - to clean up electoral rolls - has resulted in "very large numbers of voters being excluded". The Congress leader said the "burden of proof must be on the system to ensure that no genuine voter is disenfranchised".

As many as 13.3 Crore voters have blatantly been removed from voter list, Kharge said, calling it "shocking".  

"Their power to take part in a DEMOCRACY has been snatched. It is ordinary voters who should be deciding who comes to power rather than those who are in power. So our position must be unequivocal: No genuine Indian citizen should be forced out of the electoral process through an opaque, arbitrary or inadequately supervised exercise. If names are deleted, we must know who was deleted. We must also know why," Kharge stressed.

Kharge then focsued his attention to the changes in the appointment process for the election commissioners and the "blanket immunity for life" for the Chief Election Commissioner. 

"Now we know why the PM brought the 'Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023', to remove CJI from the selection panel of the Election Commission and instead replaced by a Minister. Further, it has been provided in that Bill (which has now become an Act) that "notwithstanding other laws, no court could entertain or continue civil or criminal proceedings against a person who was or had been CEC/EC for an act, thing, or word committed, done, or spoken while discharging official duty or function." Thus a blanket immunity for life had been provided to CEC /EC," Kharge said.

The Congress chief cited the Supreme Court's observation that "It is not enough for the ECI to be independent; it must also appear to be independent".