New Delhi: Reeling under successive electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) Friday passed a resolution alleging that the integrity of the “entire electoral process” was being “severely compromised”, yet refrained from calling for a return to paper ballots, amid a clamour in the party ranks against Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Following the meeting of the CWC, which is the Congress’s top decision-making body, the party announced that it will launch a national movement on the “public concerns” regarding the “partisan functioning” of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
“The CWC believes the integrity of the entire electoral process is being severely compromised. Free and fair elections is a Constitutional mandate that is being called into serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission. Increasing sections of society are becoming frustrated and deeply apprehensive. The Congress will take these public concerns as a national movement,” the resolution noted.
Speaking at a Constitution Day event organised by the party, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had earlier this week called for a return to paper ballots, saying a movement should be launched to get the demand fulfilled. The CWC resolution, however, indicated that not all sections of the party were on board with such a maximalist demand.
Two leaders who attended the meeting said that the decision to skip any mention of paper ballot in the text of the resolution was a reflection of the party’s continuing attempts to find a path in this regard which will be acceptable to all.
“EVMs represent one aspect of our concern. Data from Maharashtra show that the manipulation begins from the stage of preparing electoral rolls itself. That can be prevented if the party’s organisational machinery is active on ground. On the question of paper ballots, there is no consensus. For instance, P. Chidambaram has openly said that he is not an EVM sceptic. He reiterated his position in the CWC on Friday,” one of the leaders said.
Kharge also suggested in his opening remarks at the meeting, which lasted nearly five hours, that the party was found wanting on this count in the recently held assembly polls.
“Recent election results also indicate that we should start our election preparations in the states at least a year in advance. Our teams should be present in the field before time. The first task should be to check the voter lists so that the votes of our supporters remain in the list at all costs,” Kharge said.
Calling for “harsh decisions” in light of the poll setbacks, Kharge also sought to shield the Congress national leadership from getting blamed for the party’s string of losses, saying campaigns should be crafted keeping local and regional factors in mind.
“For how long will you contest elections on national issues and with the help of national leaders?” Kharge asked. Following its defeat in Maharashtra, many observers pointed out that the Congress could have suffered due to its over reliance on issues and narratives that paid dividends in the Lok Sabha polls.
Kharge added that the party will fail to take on its opponents unless infighting is stemmed. The factionalism in the party’s Haryana unit was among the reasons that hamstrung its poll campaign in the state.
Kharge underlined that favourable mood “does not guarantee victory”. “What is the reason why we are not able to take advantage of the mood? We have to be alert and cautious day and night, from the stage of preparation of the voter list to the counting of votes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the text of the CWC resolution had no explicit mention of EVMs, alleged tampering with which was identified by the party as the primary reason for its defeat in the Haryana assembly elections. After getting routed in Maharashtra, the party had blamed “targeted manipulation” behind its inability to defeat the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
In 2018, at the party’s 82nd plenary session, the Congress had passed a political resolution saying that “to ensure the credibility of the electoral process, the Election Commission should revert to the old practice of paper ballot as major democracies have done”.
In this year’s Lok Sabha poll manifesto, the party had said, “We will amend the election laws to combine the efficiency of the electronic voting machine (EVM) and the transparency of the ballot paper. Voting will be through the EVM but the voter will be able to hold and deposit the machine-generated voting slip into the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) unit. The electronic vote tally will be matched against the VVPAT slip tally.”
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: Local Sena (UBT) leaders disgruntled with Congress alliance, urge for solo run in local body polls