KOLKATA, Aug 9 - Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora on Friday categorically dismissed the demand for doing away with EVMs and bringing back ballot papers, citing orders passed by the Supreme Court in the past.
He also said Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held only after receiving a formal communication from the Union ministries of home, and law and justice to that effect.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and a host of other Opposition leaders, including TDP�s N Chandrababu Naidu, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, have repeatedly claimed that the electronic voting machines could be tampered with and demanded a return to ballot papers.
�We are not going back to the era of ballot papers. The Supreme Court has more than once said that ballot papers are our past,� he said.
Banerjee has often said that EVMs were earlier used in developed countries like the US, UK, France and Germany but they all reverted to ballot papers.
Arora is in the city to attend events organised by the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences and IIM (Calcutta) on Friday and Saturday.
When asked about the possibility of holding Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, where the House was dissolved in November last year, Arora said it could happen only after a formal communication was received from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Law and Justice. �We are waiting for the formal communication from the home and law ministries,� he said.
When asked whether the National Register of Citizens (NRC), a hugely contentious issue in Assam, will be implemented in West Bengal, Arora said the matter is being looked at by the Supreme Court.
�Let the Supreme Court come out with a verdict. At the moment it is for Assam. The Supreme Court has not given the verdict. I cannot give a verdict and cannot forecast,� he said. � PTI
