[Marxistindia] Prakash Karat's Letter to Chief Election Commissioner

[news from the cpi(m)]

                                                      September 01, 2009


Press Release


We are releasing the text of the letter addressed by CPI(M) General
Secretary Prakash to Chief Election Commissioner, Shri Navin Chawla on
August 31, 2009 regarding the doubts about the use of Electronic Voting
Machines.


                    ********************************

                           Text of the Letter


Shri Navin Chawla

Chief Election Commissioner

Election Commission of India


Dear Shri Navin Chawla,


I am writing to you regarding the use of Electronic Voting Machines
(EVMs) for recording votes in the elections. In the recent period, there
have been a number of questions raised about the reliability of the EVMs
in the polling process. Amongst the concerns are the possibility of
tampering with the programme chip embedded in the EVMs and further the
lack of any verifiable record of the vote cast by a voter.


There are some countries with the requisite technological know-how who
are stopped the use of EVMs or prescribed conditions for their use.


It is important that all doubts about the use of the EVMs for voting are
removed, so that people's faith in the democratic system is not
affected.


The Election Commission should take steps to clear all the doubts and
allay the apprehensions. We would, therefore, request you to convene an
all-parties meeting along with technical experts to discuss in depth the
issue of use of EVMs in the electoral process.


                                                                    Sd/-

                                                         (Prakash Karat)

                                                       General Secretary