Make paper trail mandatory for transparency: Raghavulu

- Asks State govt to help AgriGold victims
- Flays govt for neglecting backward areas of Seema, North Andhra

Visakhapatnam: In view of recent allegations and controversies with regard to the conduct of elections and its results in many states, CPM politburo member B V Raghavulu felt that ‘Paper Trail’ mode should also be made mandatory along with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to ensure a better cross check and transparency in the voting system.

Raghavulu who was here along with the party state secretary P Madhu to lay foundation stone for Alluri Sitarama Raju Vignana Kendram at Daba Gardens area here on Sunday, criticised the NDA government for not allotting funds to the Election Commission to go for the Paper Trail mode. He told a press conference here that it was not proper to demand ban of EVMs, adding that the CPM is always for using technology.

He said he was at a loss to understand why the BJP government is dilly-dallying sanctioning Rs 1,000 crore to the Election Commission to acquire paper Trail system.

About the latest Electoral Bond system brought out by the Centre, he said it is nothing but to shield major political parties for not showing the details of how much they got from the corporates for elections and it would be very difficult for the Left parties to face the money flow during the elections.

He criticised the BJP government for making it mandatory to notify the name of the donor who pays Rs 2,000 or more for political parties in the form of a cheque leaving the electoral bonds worth crores of rupees given by the corporates. Thus, the new electoral bonds would legalise tainted money, he added. The CPM leader demanded the Centre to roll back its proposal of selling away 51 per cent of shares of DCIL.

Referring to the Governor’s speech during the Assembly session, the CPM politburo member lamented that there was no mention of allocation of funds for the backward areas of Uttarandhra and Rayalaseema and the centralised development around Amaravati is giving suspicion of another bifurcation of the state.

He suggested to the state government to keep away from the proposed nuclear power plant at Kovvada.

Of the 11 new Ministers inducted into the state Cabinet on Sunday, 4 were defectors, he pointed out. He said people were wondering if the Ministers who were dropped from the Cabinet were incapable or those who were inducted afresh were capable. The government should clarify on the issue, Raghavulu demanded.

When asked on the special qualification Nara Lokesh has to secure a Cabinet berth, Raghavulu replied that ‘Son of CM’ is the only yardstick he has.

Demanding that the state government should immediately help the AgriGold victims, he asked it to later recover the assets from its management.

Raghavulu asked the state government why it had to increase the power tariff when it claimed that AP is power surplus.

CPM state secretariat member Ch Narasinga Rao and party district leader V S Padmanabha Raju were also present.