Opposition parties on Monday shared their concerns about malfunctioning electronic voting machines and voter verifiable paper audit trail machines with the Election Commission and demanded information about the firms that repair the devices. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said 70% of the political parties had demanded going back to the system of ballot paper, PTI reported.

The poll panel had called the meeting to discuss electoral reforms. It was attended by representatives from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Trinamool Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Nationalist Congress Party and 51 state parties.

Opposition parties asked the commission why all malfunctioning machines showed votes going to only one party, NDTV reported. The reference was to the ruling BJP.

Congress leader Mukul Wasnik said electronic voter machines “do not reflect the will of the people”. “There have been a number of times when electronic voter machines malfunction and it [the vote] goes to only one political party,” Wasnik said. “We want to know who is repairing the EVMs and how many of the old ones are being used. We want the VVPAT and the EVMs to be checked.”

Singhvi said Opposition parties recommended that at least 30% of polling booths maintain a paper trail to avoid electronic voter machine malfunctioning. The Congress also demanded a crackdown on fake names in electoral rolls and a ceiling on party expenditure during election campaigns. “Unregulated party expenditure is a dangerous proposition,” Singhvi said.

The Congress also demanded that the poll panel work towards greater representation of women in the General Elections and state Assembly polls

The Trinamool Congress reiterated its demand that ballot papers be used instead of electronic voter machines.

Speaking for the Aam Aadmi Party, its spokesperson Raghav Chandra said: “On the day of the result, the Election Commission must mandatorily audit at least 20% of the EVMs and VVPAT machines to ensure the sanctity of EVMs and then we can call it a free and fair election.”

Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat said the poll panel had taken note of the concerns expressed by the political parties, ANI reported. “Some parties said going back to ballot is bad as it would bring back booth capturing ,” Rawat said.

Malfunctioning EVMs and VVPAT system

The Opposition has raised doubts about the infallibility of electronic voting machine a number of times in the recent past. At its plenary session in March, the Congress expressed concerns about the machines being vulnerable to manipulation. However, Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat has blamed the parties for making voting machines a scapegoat for their electoral defeats.

The VVPAT system produces paper receipts that allow voters to verify that the electronic voting machine has accurately recorded their choices.

On May 28, VVPAT malfunctions were reported from many polling stations during the Kairana and Bhandara-Gondiya bye-elections in Uttar Pradesh. In Maharashtra’s Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency, polling was suspended in 35 booths.

The Samajwadi Party also alleged EVMs were tampered with during the Noorpur Assembly bye-election in May. The party’s leader, Akhilesh Yadav, alleged that he had received complaints about thousands of faulty voting machines.

After the complaints, the EC had to replace 20.8% of VVPATs deployed in Kairana and 19.22% in Bhandara-Gondiya. This led to re-election in 73 polling stations of Kairana and 49 in Bhandara-Gondiya.