Madhya Pradesh: Digvijaya Singh demands VVPAT slips be put in 'microchip free' ballot box and used for declaring poll results

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Congress Rajya Sabha member and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh on Thursday demanded that voter verifiable paper audit trail slips be put in a "microchip free ballot box" and election results be announced on the basis of VVPAT only.

"Our main issue is that the box in which the voter drops the VVPAT slip should not have any microchip in it and the results of the polls should be declared on the basis of it only," Singh said over phone from Pathankot in Punjab while participating in the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra.

VVPAT system keeps a physical trail of all votes cast. It allows voters to verify their votes are cast as intended.

Earlier in the day, Singh put out a series of tweets over electronic voting machines (EVMs) and remote voting machine (RVM). "We are grateful to ECI (Election Commission of India) for organising All Party Meeting on RVM. In the interest of our Indian Constitution and Democracy ECI like Caesar's wife should be above suspicion," he tweeted.

ECI held consultations with political parties earlier

His comments come days after the ECI held consultations with recognised national and state political parties on its proposal on remote voting, aimed at facilitating casting of votes by migrants. But a majority of opposition parties have asked for a broad-based consensus over many areas, including the definition of domestic migrants.

"There is a huge Trust Deficit on the issue of EVM. No machine with a Chip is tamper proof. This is a Universal Truth. The questions raised by Civil Society Activists and Political Parties have to be addressed by ECI to their satisfaction," his second tweet read.

"Not suggesting voting by ballot paper"

The Congress leader clarified that he was not pressing for voting by ballot papers.

"I am not suggesting voting by ballot paper. What I am suggesting is a very simple and reasonable demand. Voting by EVM with a slight modification.

"After voting on EVM 1-VVPAT slip after 7 second visual instead of dropping in the box should be given to the voter in his hand. 2- Voter then drops the slip in a microchip free ballot box. 3- Install VVPAT slip counting machine. Declare the result," he demanded from the ECI through his tweets.