India probably needs to go back to ballots: Dipankar Bhattacharya

CPI(ML) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya expresses concerns over EVMs, exit polls, saffronisation, and calls for a return to ballots.

Amid concerns raised by the Opposition parties over Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said the country may probably have to go back to ballots.

In an interview with PTI editors at the agency's headquarters in New Delhi, the CPI(ML) Liberation leader also raised concerns over alleged "saffronisation" of education and stock market "scam" driven by exit polls.

Highlighting his concerns around the conduct of the 2024 general elections and the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Mr. Bhattacharya said the Opposition had sought 100% VVPAT counting in the elections, but it was turned down by the Supreme Court.

The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is an independent vote verification system which permits an elector to see whether his vote was cast correctly. The VVPAT generates a paper slip which can be viewed by the voter and the paper slip is kept in a sealed cover and can be opened in case of a dispute.

However, all votes recorded on EVMs are not cross-verified with VVPAT - slips from five randomly selected polling stations per constituency are matched with the EVM count.

"The Election Commission also didn't agree. So I think now, at the end of the day, probably this country will have to go back to the ballots... That is my personal feeling," he said.

Mr. Bhattacharya said this is his party's stand, which was shared among many other parties, but added he can't be too sure about all the parties in the country.