Election Commission refusing to address INDIA bloc’ concerns about EVMs: Jairam Ramesh

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh alleged on Sunday that the Election Commission failed to provide any substantive response to the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’s “genuine concerns” about electronic voting machines, The Hindu reported.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, the Congress general secretary in charge of communications said the poll body “completely brushed off” the coalition’s request for a meeting and instead repeatedly directed them to “generic FAQs” in response to queries.

“Your point blank refusal to even engage with political participants...is a matter of grave concern for all political parties and not just those who belong to the INDIA alliance,” Ramesh said in his letter.

On Friday, the Election Commission had dismissed Ramesh’s concerns about EVMs saying that there were “no new assertions or reasonable and legitimate doubts which require further clarifications”, reported The Hindu.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or the INDIA bloc, is a coalition of 28 Opposition parties that plans to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

On December 19, the coalition had adopted a resolution seeking that 100% of voter verifiable paper audit trail, or VVPAT, slips be counted during polls. Currently, VVPAT slips from only five randomly selected polling stations in each Assembly segment are...

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