Kharge Calls For Return To Ballot Paper After Maharashtra Drubbing

Reeling from the crushing defeat in Maharashtra, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday called for a return to ballot paper from voting machines or EVMs. Speaking at the ‘Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan’ function at Talkatora stadium in Delhi, he said, “We should all unite and move forward together and push them aside. I do not wish to speak about elections, but I would surely say the votes of all the poor and oppressed communities are going to waste. They should all demand voting by ballot paper.”

"Let them keep EVMs with them. We don't want EVMs, we want voting on ballot paper. Then they will know what their position is and where they stand," added the 82-year-old Congress chief.

This comes after the Supreme Court said that allegations of tampering with voting machines come up only when people lose elections while dismissing a petition seeking ballot paper voting for elections in the country.
Moreover, Kharge urged for a campaign similar to the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in scale for going back to using ballot paper.

"From our party, we should start this campaign to make everyone aware that they should want ballot paper back. We will speak to other political parties also," he said, urging Rahul Gandhi to launch a movement. “We should start a campaign like Bharat Jodo Yatra to bring back the ballot paper," Kharge stressed.

On the other hand, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole refused to accept the results earlier today, stating that the “EVM issue” is not being taken seriously. “Whatever election results have come, they are not acceptable to anyone, not even to the people of Maharashtra,” he told ANI.

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He added, “So we have brainstormed on this issue and if you see social media in Maharashtra today, the public says that the government has not come with our votes, so the Congress party has always respected the sentiments of the public.”

Patole said that a mass movement is the only option left as no one is listening to the alleged mismatch of votes. “No one is listening on this (EVM issue), we also went to the Supreme Court, they said to prove it. Public sentiment says that we give our vote to X but it is being marked in the name of Y, so no one is listening to the problems. So it seems except a mass movement there is no other way," he said.

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