JAMMU, May 16 (KNO) : Communist Party of India (ML) Liberation Jammu and Kashmir State Secretary Nirdosh Uppal has urged all political parties to boycott the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and revert to the paper ballot system in the interest of democracy keeping in view tampering and hacking of the EVMs in the elections since General Elections in 2014 and subsequent elections in various states of the country.
He said that the hacking and tampering with the EVMs has only benefited the ruling parties led by-Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) since 2014 parliamentary elections and subsequent elections to Legislative Assemblies in different states across the country and particularly the recently concluded elections in Karnataka. Nirdosh Uppal in a statement has said, “The scandalous affairs of the EVMs that have surfaced during 2014 Parliament elections and Assembly elections have shaken the confidence of the people of the country.” He added that most of the political parties except BJP and its allies have expressed their fears of hacking and manipulating the EVMs in most of the elections after 2014. He further said that the scandalous affairs have created confusion among the people and working of functional Indian Democratic system in the country.
He further said that all the political parties should boycott these EVMs right from the grassroot level elections from Panchayat Raj Institutions to the highest seat of democracy i.e. Indian Parliament and state assemblies. He added that it is unfortunate that all the political parties have not taken a clear stand on the use of EVMs in view of hacking and tempering in recently concluded Karnataka Assembly elections. He further said, “CPI (ML) Liberation will take this initiatives in the state and take on board all the Left Parties to boycott the EVMs. Democracy is a process which is an in interplay between various stakeholders and if, therefore, the stakeholders are unhappy with a particular process, then there is dire need to reconsider the stand of the central government in this context.”
He said that unity of the Left Parties is necessary on this serious issue in order to save democratic institutions from being eroded by the right wing parties in Jammu and Kashmir.