Supreme Court Rejects 'Blind' Opposition To EVMs
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-04-27 14:13:43
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
It is
strange that political parties across the spectrum raise questions about EVMs
when they lose. The fact is if EVMs were so easy to manipulate, then the NDA
would not have lost a single election after coming to power in 2014. Or for
that matter, the UPA would not have lost in 2014. Although the NDA is accused
of manipulating EVMs for winning, no critic has ever explained how they have
lost so many state elections after 2014.
The Supreme
Court has rightly questioned this blind opposition to EVMs without supporting
data or evidence. This is after the Election Commission has organized several
hackathons to assure people about the safety of the voting machines. A return
to paper ballot, as the apex court rightly said, would be turning the clock
back and ignoring technology that has served the purpose well and
without proven blemishes. Clearly, those who petitioned the court to step in
and ban EVMs could not make out a strong case against them.
As for
political parties, will AAP explain how it keeps winning in Delhi or how it won
in Punjab if the EVMs can be manipulated to throw up predetermined results? Or
will the Congress explain how it won in Karnataka and Himachal recently and in
Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and other states after 2014? Or can the TMC explain why
it keeps winning assembly elections in Bengal? If EVMs could be manipulated and
if the BJP under Narendra Modi, as alleged, is bent on wiping out the opposition,
it would not have allowed these parties to win a single state election post
2014.
In fact,
paper ballots were the very basis for goondaism in the voting system. Party
cadres used to stuff ballot boxes with ballot papers stamped by them. Ballot
boxes were stolen and replaced after all ballot papers inside were also
replaced. EVMs offer a transparent and honest voting system and those who doubt
their fairness must present data as evidence before making such wild
allegations. The Supreme Court has done well to back the Election Commission
and the EVMs.
