Mumbai: Hundreds of activists gathered at Azad Maidan on Saturday afternoon, to protest the usage of electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra and demand that ballot papers be used. The protest was organised by the 'EVM Virodhi Rashtriya Jan Andolan', where students and activists rallied for a common cause.
The anti-EVM movement began soon after the Narendra Modi-led BJP government was re-elected after the Lok Sabha elections with a landslide majority of 353 seats. According to experts in the the organisation, the number of counted votes did not match the number of votes polled in the election in as many as 373 constituencies across the country. Also, the Election Commission (EC) did not reveal the fact that private consultants were involved in checking the authenticity of VVPATs (voter verifiable paper audit trails) and EVMs.
“It is clearly evident the EVMs were manipulated and used by the BJP government for their own benefit,” alleged Justice Kolse Patil, one of the members of the organising committee.
Soon after the Lok Sabha results, opposition parties in the state – the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) announced a nationwide campaign to halt the use of EVMs and bring back the ballot paper voting system.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray had earlier met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to discuss his campaign plsn. Raj’s rally was scheduled to take place in the last week of August, where, he claimed opposition leaders would be present, for the a common cause of saving democracy. But after this announcement, he was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and thereafter, no announcement was made either by Raj or his party members.
“The government is behaving like a tyrant, anyone who disagrees with the centre is being put behind the bars. Modi and his government are using the central agencies for their own benefit,” said Feroze Mithiborewala, an activist and the primary convener of the “Anti-EVM Andolan”.
“The major opposition parties raised their voices against the misuse of the EVMs, but with time, the authorities dissolved their motives. In a democracy, the standpoint of the opposition is equally important,” he added.
In order to intensify the movement, similar protests were also organised in various parts of Maharashtra, including Nashik, Osmanabad, Aurangabad and Solapur.
A group of activists led by Feroze is slated to meet the EC this week, to submit their demand for conducting elections through ballot papers. Once again, the issue of EVMs is gaining momentum in the state, ahead of elections.
