Akhilesh Yadav calls EVMs 'a threat to democracy', demands usage of ballot papers in future elections

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday questioned the fairness of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), terming them the “biggest threat to democracy”. [caption id=“attachment_4177723” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Akhilesh Yadav. AFP[/caption] Addressing the media, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister referred to the snags in EVMs in the Kairana parliamentary and Noorpur assembly by-polls on Monday and said that after this, people were in no mood to trust the machines. Reiterating his demand of using ballot papers in all future elections, Akhilesh Yadav also demanded a re-poll in every place where EVMs were used for voting in the Monday’s by-poll. He also exhorted all political parties to come together and raise a united voice against the EVMs and seek all future voting through the traditional mechanism of ballot papers. Akhilesh Yadav also expressed suspicion that the EVMs were tampered and manipulated under a “nefarious design” to defeat opposition candidates. Slamming the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state, he claimed that people were feeling cheated at their “hollow promises”. Their work so far in one year has been dismaying, the SP chief said while pointing out several issues like pending arrears of cane growers and farmer distress.