New Delhi: The all-party meeting of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday raised strong objections to the demonstration and discussion of Remote Voting Machines (RVMs) for overseas voters and questioned the need for implementing such a system. . According to party leaders involved.
The poll watchdog failed to organize any demonstration during the meeting, which was attended by presidents, presidents and general secretaries of eight national and 40 recognized regional political parties and extended the deadline for submission of written views from January 31 to February 28 .
Last month, the ECI had called an all-party meeting for a day-long discussion on the “broader objectives of every effort to include non-voting voters in the electoral process”.
“More than 80 representatives of political parties patiently listened to each other’s presentations. He appreciated the initiative of ECI for all party discussion and suggested more such discussions on regular basis in future.
“All matters relating to legal, administrative aspects and logistical challenges to remote voting were discussed. Some political parties demanded demonstration of RVM in states, while others wanted the concept of domestic migrants to be defined before taking the matter further.”
On 29 December, the ECI said that it has developed a prototype of a multi-constituency remote electronic voting machine for domestic expatriates, a potentially landmark development that could boost voter participation and lead to an election Can eliminate the problems of traveling to home districts during
The commission had earlier sought written views of recognized political parties on various issues such as changes required in the law for domestic migrants, administrative procedures and changes in voting method/RVM/technology, if any, by January 31. On Monday, it extended the deadline to February 28.
Currently, a voter has to physically travel to the district where they are a registered voter to cast their vote, but if the new initiative is implemented, migrant voters will be able to travel to their home states to exercise their franchise. No need to travel to the district and instead use Remote Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).
After the all-party meeting on Monday, opposition parties questioned the efficacy, transparency and viability of the RVM.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told reporters, “A note has been prepared by the ECI and a presentation has been given to us, but they themselves are confused.”
“When there is no survey of migrant labourers, how can they provide facilities to them? Our point is simple, like Caesar’s wife, ECI and CEC (Chief Election Commissioner) should be above suspicion. And believe me, there is a big question on the efficacy of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) itself. The machine can be hacked. If money can be stolen by hacking Reserve Bank of Nations account then what is EVM machine.
Opposition parties have alleged EVM tampering during elections several times in the past as well.
“The issue of need for such a machine should be resolved first,” Singh said.
“The protest did not happen today and will not happen because the idea of RVM has not been accepted. No political party has agreed to see it.”
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh also questioned the need for RVM, saying there are other ways to increase voter participation.
“How will we campaign among eligible overseas voters in different states using RVM? When a bypoll is held on a seat, say Jalandhar, RVM is not acceptable,” he said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha also said that several objections were raised during the meeting. “All parties except the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised objections during the meeting, so there was no protest. The deadline for written response has been extended from January 31 to February 28.
