Seventeen Opposition parties to meet next week to discuss the plan.

Seventeen Opposition political parties are planning to approach the Election Commission of India (ECI) demanding that 2019 Lok Sabha polls be conducted on ballot papers.

These parties will meet next week to discuss the plan.

“This is a matter on which all Opposition parties agreed. We are planning to meet next week. We plan to go to the ECI and demand that it conduct the coming Lok Sabha election on ballot papers,” Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O’Brien told reporters.

The initiative on the matter was taken by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, when she visited Parliament to meet all Opposition leaders to invite them for rally planned by her in Kolkata on January 19.

Mamata's appeal

Ms. Banerjee appealed to all Opposition party leaders who visited her in the TMC office in Parliament, to send a joint delegation to the ECI to point out reports of EVM (electronic voting machine) tampering and to demand that the 2019 general election be held on ballots.

“All Opposition parties should go to ECI on this matter. There should be a joint delegation of opposition parties to EC,” she said.

The TMC had staged protests outside Parliament, questioning the neutrality of EVMs and demanded that ballot papers be brought back for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The ruling party in West Bengal said it was a “common programme” that would unite all Opposition parties.

Interestingly, Ms. Banerjee had also urged Shiv Sena, a BJP ally, to be a part of the delegation.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had demanded that the 2019 Lok Sabha election be conducted on ballot papers instead of EVMs.