The Congress has sought an appointment with the Election Commission for the leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to put forward their concerns on voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT).

In his letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh claimed that on August 9, 2023, a memorandum was submitted to the EC on electronic voting machine (EVM) related concerns of the INDIA parties, followed by repeated requests for a meeting with the delegation from the Opposition.

Noting that on August 23, the poll panel issued a clarification on the memorandum, he said, “This clarification was generic in nature and directed us to refer to the standard FAQs on EVMs available on the EC website, explained the legal backing for EVMs through Section 61A of the Representation of Peoples’ Act, 1951, summarised the judgments of the High Courts and the Supreme Court on the issue of EVMs.’’

Ramesh said the memorandum provided a chart of assembly and parliamentary election results since 2004 to show that the political party winning the maximum number of seats changed several times.”

However, Congress’ MP in Rajya Sabha said there was no meeting or hearing provided to the INDIA parties’ delegation despite repeated requests.

In his letter dated December 30, the soft copy of which was issued to the media on Tuesday, the MP said on October 2 a follow-up representation was sent through the counsel. The representation raised specific concerns which remained “unaddressed” in the poll panel’s clarification of August 23.

The Parliamentarian claimed that no response was received on the same.

He further wrote, “On December 20, we again requested an appointment with the EC to discuss and provide suggestions on the use of VVPATs based on a resolution passed at a meeting of leaders of INDIA parties held the previous day. We have been trying to meet with the EC to hand over a copy of this resolution and have a discussion but have not been successful so far in doing so.”

“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. Surely, this is a perfectly reasonable and legitimate request,” Ramesh said.

Notably, the INDIA parties during its fourth meeting in the national capital last month passed a resolution on the EVMs.

“INDIA parties reiterate that there are many doubts on the integrity of the functioning of the EVMs. These have been raised by many experts and professionals as well. Our suggestion is simple: Instead of the VVPAT slip falling in the box, it should be handed over to the voter who shall then place it in a separate ballot box after having verified his or her choice.

”100 per cent counting of VVPAT slips should then be done. This will restore full confidence of the people in free and fair elections,” said the resolution.