India
‘BJP’s 400 claim could be true if … ‘: Sam Pitroda’s EVM warning as Congress gears up for 2024 Lok Sabha elections | India News
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NEW DELHI: Congress leader Sam Pitroda on Thursday said the BJP could win more than 400 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections if issues associated with electronic voting machines (EVMs) are not “fixed”.
When asked about the BJP’s claim that it would win more than 400 seats in the general elections, Pitroda said,” More power to them if they think they can do it.Great. That is for the country to decide. EVM needs to be fixed before the next election. If EVM is not fixed, 400 may be true. If EVM is fixed 400 may not be true.”
The chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress had yesterday urged the Congress and the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc members to take the EVMs “seriously” as the 2024 Lok Sabha election will decide the “destiny of the nation.”
Reiterating his concerns over possible manipulation of EVMs, Pitroda cited a report by NGO ‘The Citizens’ Commission on Elections’, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur, and said that the main recommendations of the report were to modify the current design of the VVPAT system to make it truly “voter-verified”.
“I waited for the Election Commission to respond but when it didn’t happen I decided to speak. It has nothing to do with the fact that elections in five states are over and the 2024 election is coming,” Pitroda said.
“I feel there is a trust deficit based on this report. And, the Election Commission must respond to rebuild the trust,” he said.
The BJP took a dig at the Congress over Pitroda’s remarks on EVMs and said the grand old party is looking for excuses and not reasons for its defeat.
“When they won in one state, whether there is a different EVM there? Now even the public laughs at them. They are the people who used to claim that they had bought computers and today they are opposing technology,” the Union minister said reacting to Pitroda’s remarks.
Pitroda is not the first Congress leader to raise questions on EVM. After the party’s recent defeat in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, senior leader and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh questioned the reliability of the EVMs.
The Congress was decimated in the assembly elections, winning only 66 seats while the BJP bagged 163 seats.
In fact, Digvijaya Singh has been raising doubts over the EVM machine since long. Ahead of the assembly elections, citing a report on EVMs, Digvijaya Singh had requested the Election Commission to hand over the VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) slips to voters.
“Respected Election Commission, we have only one request, please hand over the VVPAT slip to us separately, which we will keep in a separate ballot box. Before counting, count the votes from any 10 ballot boxes and tally them with the results from the counting unit. If the result of both is same then declare the result from the results of the Counting Unit. What problem does the Election Commission have with this? We request the Supreme Court to take this matter seriously and save democracy in the country,” Singh had then posted on X.
(With inputs from agencies)
When asked about the BJP’s claim that it would win more than 400 seats in the general elections, Pitroda said,” More power to them if they think they can do it.Great. That is for the country to decide. EVM needs to be fixed before the next election. If EVM is not fixed, 400 may be true. If EVM is fixed 400 may not be true.”
The chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress had yesterday urged the Congress and the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc members to take the EVMs “seriously” as the 2024 Lok Sabha election will decide the “destiny of the nation.”
Reiterating his concerns over possible manipulation of EVMs, Pitroda cited a report by NGO ‘The Citizens’ Commission on Elections’, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur, and said that the main recommendations of the report were to modify the current design of the VVPAT system to make it truly “voter-verified”.
“I waited for the Election Commission to respond but when it didn’t happen I decided to speak. It has nothing to do with the fact that elections in five states are over and the 2024 election is coming,” Pitroda said.
“I feel there is a trust deficit based on this report. And, the Election Commission must respond to rebuild the trust,” he said.
The BJP took a dig at the Congress over Pitroda’s remarks on EVMs and said the grand old party is looking for excuses and not reasons for its defeat.
“When they won in one state, whether there is a different EVM there? Now even the public laughs at them. They are the people who used to claim that they had bought computers and today they are opposing technology,” the Union minister said reacting to Pitroda’s remarks.
Pitroda is not the first Congress leader to raise questions on EVM. After the party’s recent defeat in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, senior leader and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh questioned the reliability of the EVMs.
The Congress was decimated in the assembly elections, winning only 66 seats while the BJP bagged 163 seats.
In fact, Digvijaya Singh has been raising doubts over the EVM machine since long. Ahead of the assembly elections, citing a report on EVMs, Digvijaya Singh had requested the Election Commission to hand over the VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) slips to voters.
“Respected Election Commission, we have only one request, please hand over the VVPAT slip to us separately, which we will keep in a separate ballot box. Before counting, count the votes from any 10 ballot boxes and tally them with the results from the counting unit. If the result of both is same then declare the result from the results of the Counting Unit. What problem does the Election Commission have with this? We request the Supreme Court to take this matter seriously and save democracy in the country,” Singh had then posted on X.
(With inputs from agencies)
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