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Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi on Tuesday defended Party President Mallikarjun Kharge statement "We do not want EVMs, we want ballot papers", saying that if trust of a "larger section of voters in voting machines starts shaking then the Election Commission should listen to it."
Speaking to the media, Imran said, "When the trust of a large section of voters in this country on EVMs, on election process starts shaking, and when the Opposition is saying that we should return to ballot papers instead of sticking to EVMs, Election Commission should listen." "Kharge ji has given a suggestion regarding this. He is a senior leader of the country...If he has said something, the Government and Election Commission should take note of it," the Congress MP added. Earlier today, addressing Constitution Day event at Talkatora Stadium in the national capital, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge pressed to conduct elections on ballot papers instead of EVMs. He said, "Votes of people from SC, ST, OBC, and poor communities are going to waste. Set aside EVMs. We do not want EVMs, we want voting on ballot paper...Let them keep the machine at their home, at the home of PM Modi or Amit Shah. Then we would know where you (BJP-NDA) stand." "We should start a campaign on behalf of our party. We would like to urge everyone and all parties, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi that we should take out (a rally) just like Bharat Jodo Yatra that we want ballot paper," Kharge added. Notably, the Supreme Court dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition on Tuesday seeking the reintroduction of the physical paper ballot voting system in elections in India. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale dismissed the plea filed by evangelist KA Paul seeking physical ballot voting in India. During the hearing, the petitioner said that even leaders like Chandrababu Naidu and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had questioned Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering. To this the bench said what happens is, if you win the elections, EVMs are not tampered. "When Chandrababu Naidu or Mr Reddy lost, they say that EVMs are tampered and when they won, they don't say anything. How can we see this? We are dismissing this. This is not the place where you argue all of this," said the bench. (ANI)
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