AFTER POLL ROUT, HP CONG URGES EC TO USE PAPER BALLOT

SHIMLA: Nearly a month after it faced a crushing defeat in the assembly elections, the Himachal Pradesh Congress on Monday urged the election commission to stop use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and go for traditional paper ballots in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

State Congress leaders on Monday met at the party headquarters Rajiv Bhawan.

The party leaders raised doubts on the efficacy and credibility of EVMs. A delegation led by state party chief Sukhwinder Singh met the election commissioner and submitted a memorandum seeking discontinuation of EVMs.

"Allegations of EVM tampering have put a question mark on our electoral system,” the memorandum read. The memorandum, however, did not make specific reference to the recently held assembly elections in which the Congress won 21 seats in the 68-member house.

Many vanguard leaders like former health minister Kaul Singh Thakur, former transport minister GS Bali and Rajya Sabha member Viplov Thakur bit the dust. Himachal Pradesh was the only state in country where VVPAT machines were used in all 7,521 polling stations.