New Delhi: The Congress will launch a nationwide movement against the EVMs from Belgaum in Karnataka on December 26 when a massive rally will be held after a meeting of the extended Working Committee.
The CWC meeting which will be attended by all top national leaders and Chief Ministers and the rally in Belgaum is being organised to mark the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s presidency of the grand old party on the same day in 1924.
According to party insiders, the issue of EVMs was flagged by several members during the CWC meeting on Friday including Lok Sabha MP Priyanka Gandhi who said it was time for decisive action and suggested the either EVMs or ballot papers line.
According to party insiders, the proposed movement against the EVMs will include a focus on the Election Commission whose acts of omission and commission have resulted in a lack of transparency in the electoral process and have disheartened the voters.
The party insiders further said that like Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra against hate politics started after a visit to the Mahatma Gandhi ashram in Ahmedabad in 2022, the proposed movement against EVMs will reflect the freedom fighter’s ideals.
The Karnataka government had earlier made elaborate arrangements to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s presidency of the party by convening a joint session of the Assembly.
The move to oppose the EVMs has come after the Congress suffered defeats in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections which party managers have found hard to digest but the idea has been there within the grand old party for years.
"Over the past years, we had formed an internal committee which had senior leaders like Digvijay Singh and Kamal Nath as members. They had consulted the experts and suggested that the EVMs could be hacked. Subsequently, the party has been regularly demanding that 100 per cent matching of VVPAT slips should be held by the EC but our demand was rejected. The EC should be a nonpartisan body to implement the Constitutional mandate. If there is a doubt in the minds of the large number of voters over the role of the EVMs the same should be clarified,” CWC member Jagdish Thakor told ETV Bharat.
The Congress has already submitted a detailed dossier listing the various shortcomings in the electoral process in Maharashtra to the EC and has sought a meeting with it to explain constituency-wise anomalies, said party insiders.
"It is not the EVMs per se that we are against. It is the targeted manipulation of the machines that must be probed,” a senior All India Congress Committee (AICC) functionary said.
According to CWC member Avinash Pande, the recent state results were not encouraging for the party workers who were on a high after the INDIA bloc’s and Congress’ success in the Lok Sabha elections but there was no need for them to lose hope.
"Our message to the workers is not to be disheartened and keep raising the concerns of the people as issues like joblessness and price rise are affecting a large number of voters. Our allies also have doubts over the EVMs," Pande told ETV Bharat.
The Belgaum rally would be held two days before the Congress foundation day on December 28. Till then, party chief Kharge would set up panels to review the recent state selections and also work on a plan to introduce changes in the AICC and in states.
