As many as 21 Opposition parties have moved the Supreme Court, asking it to pass a direction that electronic voting machines be made tamper-proof. The court will hear the petitions on Friday, NDTV reported.
The parties want stricter standards and safety norms instituted to prevent EVM tampering. They also want 50% of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail machines to be tallied with the voting machines.
The parties that have approached the court include the Congress, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, Aam Aadmi Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Derek O’Brien for the Trinamool Congress, Farooq Abdullah for the National Conference, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
In February, Naidu had said that several Opposition parties will move the Supreme Court against EVMs. Naidu said the decision was taken during a meeting of 15 Opposition parties at Pawar’s residence.
Opposition parties have raised doubts about the credibility of electronic voting machines a number of times in the last two years. However, the Election Commission has repeatedly denied allegations that the machines can be tampered with.
On January 24, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora reiterated that the country would not revert to using ballot papers for elections.
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