DUSU polls: Congress demands repolling using ballot papers
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday alleged tampering with the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) polls and demanded that the election be held again with paper ballots and the counting of votes under CCTV surveillance. AAP questioned the Election Commission over the use of privately sourced EVMs in the DUSU elections while the Delhi University Authority is silence over procuring of EVMs.
Questioning the Delhi University over its alleged silence on the procurement of EVMs in elections, the Congress on Friday demanded that a revote be held with ballot papers.
Senior Delhi Congress leaders said the party was also considering the legal options to get the polls countermanded after the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the students' wing of the party, bagged just one of the four DUSU posts and the rest went to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students' wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
On the other hand, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also questioned the Election Commission over the privately sourced Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs) used in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections.
While the Congress repeatedly questioned the poll panel over "privately sourced EVMs" used in the student body elections, adding that its demand for the last two years on the use of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails in DUSU elections had been ignored.
"The Election Commission on Thursday clarified that they did not supply the Electronic Voting Machines used in Delhi University Students Union elections. After the EC clarification on the EVMs, why didn't the varsity tell from where it got these EVMs," Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken asked while speaking to the media here.
Maken alleged that whenever EVM malfunctioning was reported, the BJP ended up winning the polls and demanded that the EC goes back to ballot-paper voting in all the forthcoming polls in the states and the Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, BJP's Manoj Tiwari said that the opposition parties like Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are raising questions on the youthful thinking in DUSU election by spreading rumours of glitches in EVMs and insulting the mandate of the youth. "It has become a habit of the opposition parties to allege glitches in the EVMs which shows their frustration. In these elections, the policies of Congress Party and the Aam Aadmi Party have been totally rejected by the youth," he added.
