Karnataka Congress leader seeks SC judge-led probe into 19 lakh 'missing' EVMs

Karnataka Congress leader seeks SC judge-led probe into 19 lakh 'missing' EVMs

Bengaluru, May 8 : Senior Karnataka Congress leader and MLA H.K. Patil called on Legislative Assembly Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri on Sunday and sought a probe into the issue of 19 lakh "missing" Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

A delegation led by Patil submitted a memorandum to the Speaker, demanding that the probe has to be conducted by the Special Committee headed by a Judge of the Supreme Court.

Patil stated that he had submitted 2,750 pages of documents in this regard. The document comprised the RTI replies by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and issues that have been taken up by the courts.

Addressing press conference after the submission of documents, Patil expressed his anger over the inordinate delay in taking up petitions by the courts regarding election petitions and EVMs.

"There has been debate in the country and the issue is surrounded by too much of confusion. The ECI should organise an ethical hackathon in Vidhana Soudha (Legislative Assembly)," Patil said.

"I have raised issues related to financial transactions that are taking place within the Election Commission. I have also discussed about voters being paid through digital platforms," he asserted.

"In the backdrop to this, we have urged to form a special committee headed by a Judge of the Supreme Court to look into the matter of 19 lakh missing voting machines. I have provided inputs of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) submitted by RTI activist Manoranjan Roy," the Congress leader told the media persons.

"EVMs which are older than 15 years should not be used. There had been a committee report in 2007 on how to dispose of old EVMs. From 2007 to 2018, for 12 years, the Election Commission turned a blind eye to this recommendation," Patil said, adding that the Speaker should issue summons to the Election Commission and resolve this matter.

(The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the ap7am team.)

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