Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 6
In the midst of controversy kicked up by Opposition parties regarding functioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi on Monday said there should be no apprehension after the introduction of VVPAT slip.
“The EVM controversy should now be behind us after introduction of VVPAT slip,” Quraishi said after releasing a book titled India: The Wrong Transition, authored by journalist Anand K Sahay.
Responding to a query from the audience at the function, he said credibility of the EVM was first questioned by parties when he was in the Election Commission. However, the issue was resolved after it was agreed upon to introduce the paper trail to the voting machines.
As many as 21 Opposition parties have petitioned the Supreme Court pleading that EVMs be backed up by the paper trail device printouts in at least half of the booths in the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking on the occasion, Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak (retired), who had been involved in the peace process in Jammu and Kashmir in the past, batted for the Indian government entering into a dialogue with Pakistan.
“I do not agree that it is the worst time to talk to Pakistan. There have been far worst times before. After the terrorist attack on Parliament, the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, made a bold move,” Kak said, alluding to Vajpayee holding talks with Pakistan.
“We have to start a dialogue with Pakistan, sooner or later” he said, adding: “During the Narendra Modi government, alienation of people has only deepened. The muscular policy has achieved nothing,” he said.
Sahay’s book analyses five years of the Narendra Modi government and finds faults with its policies, including on Jammu and Kashmir.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2LsNUAy
via Today’s News Headlines
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