india

Updated: Sep 19, 2019 04:31 IST

In the backdrop of demands by opposition parties for a return to physical ballots, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said on Wednesday that paper ballots had been confined to history and all future elections, including the coming assembly polls, will take place on electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Arora said EVMs were tamper-proof and the Election Commission’s stand had been backed by the Supreme Court.

The Congress and some other opposition parties have called for a return to ballot papers, alleging that the EVMs are prone to malfunctioning and vulnerable to tampering.

Arora and his team conducted a review of preparations for assembly elections on Wednesday in Mumbai as Maharashtra prepares for polls later this year. Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand are due to hold assembly elections this year followed by Delhi early next year.

The team met various stakeholders including political parties and officials from the state and central regulatory agencies such as income tax, excise and sales tax and also took stock of the requirement for security forces.

“This has been clarified time and again by us, that the EVMs are tamper-proof. Like any other mechanical device the EVMs can malfunction but cannot be tampered with ,” he said.