Jagan doubts EVMs, calls for use of ballot papers

Vijayawada: Routed in recent general elections, former chief minister and Pulivendula MLA YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday called for using ballot papers.

Joining the ongoing debate over the possibility of hacking Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), he said in a post on ‘X’, “Just as justice should not only be served but should also appear to have been served, so should democracy not only prevail but must appear to be prevalent undoubtedly.

The YSRCP president claimed that almost every developed country is using ballot papers.

“In electoral practices across the world in almost every advanced democracy, paper ballots are used, not EVMs. We too must move towards the same in upholding the true spirit of our democracy,” he said.

Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose party suffered crushing defeat in the recent simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, is another Indian politician to join the debate following tech billionaire Elon Musk’s call to eliminate EVMs.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had on Sunday termed the EVMs in India a ‘black box’. “EVMs in India are a “black box,” and nobody is allowed to scrutinise them. Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process,” the Congress MP wrote on X.