GUWAHATI, June 15 - The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has claimed that results of the recent elections to local bodies� in Karnataka and Rajasthan are very different from the outcome noticed during the Lok Sabha polls and added that the use of traditional paper ballots is the only way to ensure �free and fair� elections.
APCC general secretary and senior spokesperson Mukul Sarma said the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance secured around 800 of the total 1,200 seats in the Karnataka local bodies elections, while the BJP won only 200 seats and the remaining 200 seats went to Independent candidates.
�Likewise, in the municipal elections in Rajasthan, results of which were declared yesterday, the Congress won eight out of 16 seats, with the BJP securing five seats and Independent candidates winning three. The results are interesting, considering the fact that in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won from all the parliamentary constituencies of Rajasthan while the Congress drew a blank. There has been so much change in the results within a short period of one month,� Sarma said.
He added, �People are forced to believe that this type of results have come about due to the use of ballot papers in the elections to the local bodies.�
It is noteworthy that opposition parties in the country have in recent months expressed doubts over the reliability of EVMs and alleged that the voting machines are susceptible to manipulation. They have been demanding a return to the use of paper ballots in the elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.
GUWAHATI, June 15 - The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has claimed that results of the recent elections to local bodies� in Karnataka and Rajasthan are very different from the outcome noticed during the Lok Sabha polls and added that the use of traditional paper ballots is the only way to ensure �free and fair� elections.
APCC general secretary and senior spokesperson Mukul Sarma said the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance secured around 800 of the total 1,200 seats in the Karnataka local bodies elections, while the BJP won only 200 seats and the remaining 200 seats went to Independent candidates.
�Likewise, in the municipal elections in Rajasthan, results of which were declared yesterday, the Congress won eight out of 16 seats, with the BJP securing five seats and Independent candidates winning three. The results are interesting, considering the fact that in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won from all the parliamentary constituencies of Rajasthan while the Congress drew a blank. There has been so much change in the results within a short period of one month,� Sarma said.
He added, �People are forced to believe that this type of results have come about due to the use of ballot papers in the elections to the local bodies.�
It is noteworthy that opposition parties in the country have in recent months expressed doubts over the reliability of EVMs and alleged that the voting machines are susceptible to manipulation. They have been demanding a return to the use of paper ballots in the elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.
