Event Page

The introduction of EVMs in the elections in India has been a matter of controversy for many years now. In fact, the suspicion was first raised by BJP itself when its leader G.V.L. Narsimha Rao had written a book ‘Democracy at Risk, Can we trust our Electronic Machine?’. After coming to power, BJP has started defending the use of EVMs every time some opposition member or other people raise the question of reliability of EVMs. The results of last assembly elections, particularly in states like Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh have raised fresh doubts on the credibility of EVMs. Several petitions about 100 percent EVM votes- VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) verification are pending in the Supreme Court. Recently the apex court has issued notice to the Central Election Commission in this regard. The issue of EVM along with the recent revelations about the electoral bond scheme raise big question mark about the claims of free, fair and transparent elections in India. Many organisations have been demanding to ban EVMs and revert to the ballot system and also of reducing the role of money power in Indian elections. Now that the general elections are round the corner, it’s very important to raise the issue of basic political democratic rights of the voters in India. Because of this reason, we are organising a discussion on “Suspicion over EVM and the sources of electoral funding: the question of transparency in the elections”.
All are cordially invited to be part of this discussion.
Main Speaker: Padmaja Shaw (Activist and retired OU Professor)
Date/Time: Friday, 12 April, 6 pm
Organiser:
In Defense of Reason and Naujawan Bharat Sabha