In a controversial note, Congress leader Rashid Alvi expressed concerns, questioning, “If Israel can allegedly target individuals using pagers and walkie-talkies, what does that imply for the security of EVMs?” He further suggested that the upcoming elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand should be conducted using paper ballots instead of electronic voting machines. The statement was made just hours before the election dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand were set to be announced.
Alvi said, “…In Maharashtra, the opposition should put pressure to insist on voting by paper ballot and not EVMs. Otherwise, in Maharashtra, BJP govt and EC can do anything. If Israel can kill people by use of pagers and walkie-talkies, then where does EVM stand?.”
“The PM has very good relations with Israel. Israel is an expert in such things. EVM ka bada khel kahin bhi ho sakta hai aur uske liye BJP chunav se pehle yeh sab khel kar leti hai”
What EC said?
However, refuting the allegations, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday said assured that EVMs are 100 per cent foolproof
Speaking to ANI, Kumar said “The public answers questions by participating in the voting. As far as the EVMs are concerned, they are 100 per cent foolproof. If they raise questions today again, we will tell them again.”
Last week, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh submitted a memorandum to ECI, and said he hopes that the body takes cognizance of the issue and give appropriate instructions.
Taking to social media platform X, the party General Secretary in charge of communication, wrote, “On October 9, senior Congress party leaders submitted a memorandum full of complaints to the Election Commission. Taking it forward today, we have given an updated memorandum, highlighting serious and clear irregularities in the election process in 20 assembly constituencies of Haryana. We hope that the Election Commission will take cognizance of this and issue appropriate instructions.”
The Election Commission will announce the poll dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand on Tuesday.
