Bengaluru, Sep 5 (IANS) The BJP on Friday criticised the Karnataka government for its decision to bring an amendment to use ballot papers instead of EVMs in the upcoming local body polls in the state.

Karnataka BJP claimed in a statement on Friday, “By deciding to replace EVM machines with ballot papers in the upcoming local body elections, the Congress-led government in Karnataka has itself admitted that it came to power in the state through electoral fraud.”

In a post on X, the BJP’s State President and MLA, B.Y. Vijayendra, stated, “In this context, the 136 Congress MLAs who were elected in the 2023 state elections through EVMs should first resign. The nine Congress MPs elected to the Lok Sabha from Karnataka should also resign. They should contest again and win using ballot papers. Otherwise, they must admit that they have come to power through electoral fraud.”

“Congressmen should revisit history. The highest number of complaints regarding bogus voting, election fraud, poll violence, and electoral malpractices filed in courts across the country were from elections held through ballot papers,” Vijayendra stated.

“The people of this country have not forgotten that Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency on the nation because of the court verdict against her election, which was tainted with fraud and malpractice,” he slammed.

“The Congress, which mastered electoral malpractice and fraud in ballot-based elections, has now grown desperate due to its repeated defeats in recent years. That is why the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has resorted to baseless, and frivolous arguments by raising controversies in the name of electoral fraud. To support this, the Congress government in Karnataka has decided to conduct local body elections using ballot papers,” he claimed.

While the entire country and the world are moving ahead with technology at a rapid pace, the Karnataka government is insulting technology and trying to drag the state back to the dark days of the past, Vijayendra charged.

“There are still records of how much malpractice took place in elections conducted with ballot papers during Congress regimes. In the 1990s, after a BJP candidate had won the Lok Sabha election in Davanagere, the Congress ensured his defeat during re-counting and declared their own candidate the winner. At that time, the media had reported that BJP’s ballot papers were found dumped in the toilets of the counting center in Davanagere,” Vijayendra said.

It is only for the sake of enabling electoral malpractice, booth capturing, and unchecked bogus voting that Congress is advocating ballot-based elections. Now, the Karnataka government is taking the first step to implement this. The Congress’ agenda and ultimate goal are to undermine democracy and transparent elections, he alleged.

The government in Karnataka has decided to bring amendments to use ballot papers instead of EVMs in the upcoming local body polls in the state. Minister for Law H.K. Patil made the statement in this regard after the Cabinet meeting on Thursday at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.

Minister Patil stated, “The state Cabinet has resolved to recommend necessary legal amendments and framing of rules to facilitate the conduct of all upcoming local body elections through ballot papers instead of the EVM system. Earlier, the data from Assembly elections was being used. Now, a decision has been taken to recommend revision, correction, and reconstitution of the voters’ list, so that the State Election Commission can prepare a high-quality electoral roll.”

The cabinet has also decided to recommend changes to the election process to the State Election Commission.

The Cabinet has approved certain necessary amendments to laws and rules for this purpose, Patil stated.

“Recently, people in Karnataka have observed many discrepancies in the preparation of the voters’ list, and a large number of complaints have been received. Allegations have been made that many non-existent voters were included, and discussions have been ongoing for months. Meanwhile, trust in EVMs has generally been declining. Considering the lack of reliability, public sentiment, and opinions, the decision of the Cabinet to conduct elections through ballot papers instead of EVMs has been taken in this context,” Patil emphasised.

–IANS

mka/rad