Oppn insulting people\'s mandate by blaming EVMs: Naqvi

Mumbai: Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Tuesday slammed the opposition parties over their allegations on EVM discrepancies, saying it amounted to insulting the vote of the people.

"People who are questioning EVMs are those who formed the government by this system. Congress also formed its government by EVMs. The problem is that these people have realised that they are loosing and hence they are making such wild claims. They are insulting the vote of the people by blaming EVMs," Naqvi told ANI.

Later on Tuesday, 21 opposition parties will knock the doors of Election Commission (EC), pressing their demand of tallying VVPAT slips with EVM figures in an entire constituency, in case a discrepancy is found at any polling booth.

The Opposition is currently holding a meeting at Delhi's Constitution Club of India before visiting the EC office.

Ahmed Patel of Congress, Sharad Pawar of NCP, Chandrababu Naidu of TDP, Satish Chandra Misra of BSP, Sitaram Yechury of Communist Party of India (Marxist), D Raja of Communist Party of India (CPI) and Derek O'Brien of the TMC are expected to meet the officials of the poll commission.

Naidu is at the forefront of ongoing efforts to stitch a united opposition ahead of the Lok Sabha election results on May 23.

Backing former President Pranab Mukherjee's remarks on Election Commission, the Union Minister said, "The Opposition should learn something from Pranab Mukherjee. I absolutely agree with what he said."

Amidst controversy over EC's functioning in the current elections, Mukherjee on Monday praised the role of the poll panel right from the first Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sukumar Sen to the present Commissioners.

"There is some doubt about the functioning of the Election Commission during these elections. There should be a different method of choosing the members of the Commission. There may be some viewpoints," he had said at a book launch event in New Delhi.

"Sukumar Sen was appointed by the executive. All the Election Commissioners have been appointed by the executives till date. All the judges of the higher judiciary are appointed by the Prime Minister and Law Minister. Till 1991, they were appointed with the consultation of the Chief Justice of Supreme Court. Now the judgment of the Supreme Court has been changed that it will be done by the collegium in consultation with the Prime Minister and Cabinet...," he had said.

The opposition parties have attacked the EC, accusing it of working at the behest of the Central government and surrendering its autonomy during the just concluded Lok Sabha polls.

They have also criticised the poll panel for giving a number of clean chits to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah on alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

 

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