Doubts were already expressed whether the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were being tampered and misused to change the actual verdict of the people in favour of specific parties. This has also happened in case of recent Telangana early polls in which the KCR party has won a massive victory. AP CM Chandrababu Naidu says like Telangana, there were suspicions on the functioning of EVMs in many other state elections.
Even in the most vibrant democracy in America, there is still ballot paper-based voting and counting. Many political leaders have been objecting to the EVMs in India right from the beginning. CBN argues that the companies making the EVMs have a chance to tamper the machines by misusing the chips that are used in them. He has been fighting against the EVMs based voting which was one of the reasons VVPAT slips were introduced later but this is also not being utilised well to ensure transparency.
Naidu demands that at least the old fool-proof, reliable system of ballot paper should be brought back in the 2019 general elections when AP Assembly will also go to polls. In a democracy, the true will of the people should be reflected in the polling process with no scope for diversions and tampering. Naidu asks what wrong is there to go back to old systems which are still being practiced in advanced democracies like the US.