Opposition INDIA Bloc Pushes for Meeting with Election Chief on VVPAT Concerns.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, senior Congressman Jairam Ramesh asked that leaders of the INDIA bloc be given the chance to meet with him and his colleagues in order to present their positions on VVPATS.

In his letter to Kumar, Ramesh stated that, in accordance with a resolution adopted at the bloc's leaders' meeting the day before, the leaders of the INDIA parties had asked for an appointment with the ECI to "discuss and provide suggestions on the use of VVPATs" on December 20, 2023.

"We have been trying to meet with the ECI to hand over a copy of this resolution and have a discussion but have not been successful so far in doing so," he stated.

"I once again make a request for an opportunity for a 3-4 member team of INDIA party leaders to meet with you and your colleagues and take a few minutes to put forward our point of view on VVPATS," Ramesh stated.

The Congress general secretary also mentioned in his letter dated December 30, 2023, that a memorandum on the EVM-related concerns of INDIA parties had been submitted to the ECI on August 9, 2023.

According to him, this was corroborated by multiple requests made on August 9, 10, 16, 18, and 23 of last year for a meeting between an INDIA parties' delegation and the ECI.

"ECI provided our counsel with a clarification regarding the memorandum on August 23, 2023. This generic clarification did the following: (i) it told us to refer to the standard FAQs on EVMs that are available on the ECI website; (ii) it explained the legal basis for EVMs through Section 61A of the Representation of Peoples' Act, 1951; (iii) it summarized Supreme Court and High Court rulings regarding the matter of EVMs; (iv) it provided a chart of results from assembly and parliamentary elections since 2004 that demonstrated multiple changes in the political party gaining the most seats," Ramesh said. Nevertheless, he claimed that despite repeated requests, the delegation of the INDIA parties was not given access to a meeting or hearing.

Ramesh noted that we sent a follow-up representation on October 2, 2023, via counsel.

He stated that no response was received on the specific concerns raised by the representation, which were not addressed in the ECI's clarification dated August 23, 2023.

Ramesh's letter was sent a few days after the opposition INDIA bloc claimed that there are numerous questions regarding the accuracy with which electronic voting machines operate and recommended that voters be given VVPAT slips so that 100% of the votes can be counted later.

After discussing the matter with one another and in light of the BJP's recent victories in state assembly elections, leaders of various opposition parties believed that the opposition coalition as a whole ought to bring up the issue of EVMs with the public.

In the event of an election to the House of the People, the Election Commission states that before results are announced, it is mandatory to verify printed voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips from five randomly chosen polling places in each assembly constituency or assembly segment.

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