Congress' Jairam Ramesh's letter to poll panel on voting machines-related concerns

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday requested a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Raji Kumar so Opposition bloc INDIA leaders could discuss their concerns regarding Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, Ramesh wrote, "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 (voter-verified paper audit trail)."

In his letter, he mentioned that the INDIA bloc had requested a meeting on several occasions since August last year.

"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 further stated.

On December 20, the INDIA bloc parties requested an appointment with the ECI to "discuss and provide suggestions on the use of VVPATs" based on a resolution passed at a meeting of leaders of the bloc held the previous day.

The opposition first requested a meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner on August 9, 2023. The opposition parties had submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India on their EVM-related concerns.

Ramesh's letter comes after the opposition INDIA bloc raised concerns about the integrity of electronic voting machines.

The bloc suggested distributing VVPAT slips to voters and conducting 100 per cent counting later. Opposition leaders, fuelled by BJP's recent state assembly victories, plan to collectively raise this issue.

The Election Commission currently mandates verifying VVPAT slips from five randomly selected polling stations per assembly constituency or segment before declaring results.