Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister and president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday expressed doubts over the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in elections and wanted EVMs to be replaced with ballot voting in the country.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Shivakumar said “It is high time that a rethinking is done on the use of EVMs in the election” and attributed the success of alliance partners-Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal Secular (JDS) in the recent Lok Sabha to the EVMs manipulation. BJP won in 17 seats, Congress won 9 seats and JDS in two seats in Karnataka.
Pointing to the conduct of previous elections using ballot papers in the country, he said, the Congress party polled about 2/3 of votes in Uttar Pradesh at one point of time and the scenario changed after EVMs were introduced.
Since the Lok Sabha results have been declared, nothing much could be done. However a review of the results could be conducted, he said.
On holding elections to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), he said, arrangements are underway to hold the elections and as of now, fixing reservation of wards has been undertaken. He was non-committal on the date of holding elections to BBMP. He also declined to comment on holding elections to BBMP on the model of elections to London Corporation.
To make Bengaluru city free from unauthorized advertisements and hoardings, Shivakumar, incharge Minister of Bengaluru city, said unauthorized advertisements and hoardings have been banned and as many as 15,000 flex banners have been removed from public places and cases have been filed against the concerned persons in recent days.
