Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday demanded that voting through electronic voting machines (EVMs) be stopped and ballot paper system restored, saying doubts over the functioning of EVMs were shaking political parties and people’s faith in free and fair polls.
Addressing a press conference here, the BSP chief also targeted Azad Samaj Party president and Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad, claiming that despite lacking a significant support base in Nagina, he won the 2024 Lok Sabha election through ‘EVM rigging’. The BSP chief claimed that increasing doubts about the election process will undermine public faith in democracy. “The court also ordered that the slips dropped in the VVPAT after casting a vote be counted, but not all slips are counted. “The Constitution gives every citizen the right to vote. Voters should be confident that their votes have been counted for the candidate or party they support,” she added. Political party representatives opened the ballot boxes for counting. Later, EVMs replaced ballot papers during the Congress government. The BSP continued its opposition as the majority of its voters are poor, illiterate and ignorant. They vote for the BSP in Lok Sabha and assembly elections, yet the party does not get the desired result, Mayawati claimed.
She said voters should have no doubt that their votes had “gone into someone else’s account”. Mayawati said the BSP has opposed the use of EVMs from the beginning and has even approached the Supreme Court, demanding voting through ballot papers. “However the apex court ordered the use of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) along with EVMs,” she added. The Election Commission should ensure that voters have no doubts about free and fair elections,” Mayawati said. Mayawati said the country conducted elections using ballot papers for nearly five decades.
