Even as the BJP is campaigning aggressively across the country with the slogan of ‘Abki Baar 400 Paar’ in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress candidate from Rajgarh Digvijaya Singh is on his own mission of ‘Abki Baar 384 Paar,’ albeit for a very different reason.

Digvijaya Singh’s target is to have more than 384 candidates in Rajgarh seat.

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The Congress candidate’s purpose behind the drive is his reasoning that if there is even one more than 384 candidates in any LS seat, the voting would have to be conducted through ballot papers only as it would not be possible by the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Presently a sitting Rajya Sabha member, Digvijaya Singh has been vociferous in his opposition to the use of EVMs for the past many years. He has been alleging that any machine with a chip, including the EVMs, can be hacked and tampered with, thereby affecting the election results in favour of a party and against another.

He has also been accusing the BJP of indulging in unfair tactics through the EVMs and winning elections. Singh has raised questions on many occasions on how it was possible that the BJP always achieved its predicted target of seats in several previous State Assembly elections and how it was already so confident this time of crossing the 400 seat mark in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Digvijaya Singh has raised doubts that such poll victories had been made possible through the tampering with the EVMs.

At the same time, Singh has been advocating for restarting the use of ballot papers in all Assembly and general elections to ensure free and fair polls.

He is now trying his best to achieve his aim by encouraging like-minded people to file nominations as independent candidates on the Rajgarh seat, so that the number of candidates goes beyond 384.

Singh took to the social media and said he would welcome all those who also want voting through ballot papers and such people are invited to file their nominations as independent candidates from the Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency. Singh also posted the number of an advocate so that anyone requiring help in the nomination filing process could get assistance.

The nomination filing process for the Rajgarh seat is from 12 April to 19 April. Singh is scheduled to file his nomination papers on 16 April.

Supporting Digvijaya Singh’s call, many Congress leaders have decided to file nominations, as independents to ensure the target was achieved.

Former MLA and former Mayor of Jabalpur city, Kalyani Pandey has declared that she would file her nomination from Rajgarh to back Digvijaya Singh’s aim. Kalyani Pandey regards Digvijaya Singh as her elder brother.

Several other Congress leaders and workers from Bhopal, Rajgarh and other parts of Madhya Pradesh are also ready to file their nominations.

These include Congress spokesperson Mithun Singh Ahirwar, Avnish Bundela, Congress leaders Brijbhushan Singh and Rahul Singh and many party workers too. They say that Digvijaya Singh is their leader and they are ready to do their bit to help his cause.

According to former Chief Election Commissioner of India Om Prakash Rawat, although there is no rule that ballot papers should be used for voting if there are more than 384 candidates on a seat, there is a technical necessity.

Rawat was cited saying that one EVM can contain the names of a maximum number of 384 candidates only along with the NOTA option. In that scenario, if there are more than 384 candidates, the EVM would not be able to store all the names and thus the need of conducting voting through ballot papers would arise.

Following his initial reluctance to contest the Lok Sabha polls, Digvijaya Singh, 77, agreed to contest from Rajgarh after the Congress high command told him to.

Rajgarh has been Singh’s traditional Lok Sabha seat and he had won the general elections from there in 1984 and 1991. After that, his younger brother, Laxman Singh, was the Lok Sabha MP on the seat from 1994 to 2004.

This time, Digvijaya Singh is contesting against two-time BJP sitting MP Rodmal Nagar.

The Rajgarh Lok Sabha constituency covers parts of three districts including Guna, Rajgarh and Agar-Malwa. Eight State Assembly segments of these districts come under the constituency.

Digvijaya Singh is currently campaigning in the constituency through a more than 60 kilometre long padyatra (walk) covering the various areas in the region.

The voting in Rajgarh would be held in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls, on 7 May.