Months ahead of the Lok Sabha election, opposition parties on Monday demanded that the next general election be held on ballot papers. In an all-party meet with the Election Commission, they said, “EVMs do not reflect the will of the people.” BJP and allies opposed the demand.

The main opposition party Indian National Congress had moved a resolution for the use of ballot paper in the polls in its 84th plenary session in March this year.

As many as 51 political parties attended the meeting that was called to find a political consensus on electoral reforms.

Pertinently, earlier in April, a Mumbai-based RTI activist Manoranjan S Roy had accused the Election Commission of India of not carrying out even a basic audit of the inventory, deployment, transportation and functionality of Electronic Voting Machines, suspecting misuse of the EVMs. The replies to his RTI applications given by the Election Commission of India, EVM manufacturing companies and State Election Commissions had thrown up glaring discrepancies, causing quite a flutter among several stakeholders.

Talking to media after the meeting, Congress leader Mukul Wasnik said,“There have been a number of times when EVMs malfunction and it (the vote) goes to only one political party. We want to know who is repairing the EVMs and how many of the old ones are being used. We want the VVPAT and the EVMs to be checked”.