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Chandigarh, Feb 10 (PTI) The Haryana unit of Congress on Monday demanded that the next month's civic polls in the state be held using ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines to ensure transparency.
A party delegation led by state unit chief Udai Bhan submitted a memorandum to the Haryana state election commissioner in Panchkula to press for the demand.
The Haryana State Election Commission had last week announced that the general elections for seven municipal corporations, four municipal councils, and 21 municipal committees will be held on March 2, while voting for the Panipat municipal corporation will take place on March 9.
Polling for the municipal corporations of Faridabad, Gurugram, Manesar, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak and Yamunanagar will be held on March 2.
Congress is contesting the municipal corporation wards and the municipal council president elections on party symbol where the party candidates will take on the ruling BJP.
Earlier, in the Haryana Assembly polls held in October, the Congress failed to wrest power from the BJP, which formed government for the third consecutive term.
In December, senior Congress leader Karan Singh Dalal, head of the Congress' fact-finding committee that went into the details of the party's shocking loss in Haryana Assembly polls, had released an 'interim report' alleging discrepancies in the electronic voting machines during the counting of votes.
Earlier, the Election Commission had rejected Congress' allegation of irregularities in the Haryana Assembly polls as "frivolous and unfounded".
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters here before submitting a memorandum to the state election commissioner, Bhan said the party is demanding the use of ballot papers instead of EVMs to ensure transparency.
Bhan alleged that in recent times several questions have been raised over EVMs and for "free and fair elections" ballot papers should be used.
"Moreover, the recently held civic polls in Uttarakhand were conducted using ballot paper," Bhan said.
Asked to comment on the Congress' demand, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini told reporters here that the opposition party is "extremely scared" because it has no valid issues to fight the polls on.
He further said the "mood of the people is in favour of the BJP".
Meanwhile, in its memorandum to the state election commissioner on Monday, the Congress said, "Elections in the country are the backbone of democracy. Due to the advancement of technology, EVMs were introduced in place of ballot papers.
"However, frequently its vulnerability, reliability, hacking and other related issues were raised at different forums. But the concerned authorities failed to address the grievances raised from time to time and discharge its duties though it is their duty to convince that EVMs are indeed fair," it said.
"In recently conducted Haryana Assembly election new issues viz mismatch in votes polled and counted, declaring percentage hike etc were raised...," the Congress memorandum said.
"...It is expedient to look toward old practice of ballot papers. In fact, trust and faith are the main pillars of the election process and require to be maintained and preserved.
"Uttarakhand recently reverted to the use of ballot papers in municipal elections. We wish the machinery mandated to conduct municipal elections in Haryana may rise above board and switch back to the use of ballot paper in place of EVMs to build confidence among political parties and the public.
"This may also turn out to be a test case for conduct of free and fair elections in the state," according to the party memorandum.
The Congress memorandum also mentioned that Scheduled Castes/OBC's "representation in the corporation/committees are not proportionate to their representation/population, which is also required to be looked into".
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
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