Bangladesh EVMs
Representational image

The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has called upon the chief electoral officer (CEO) to scrap the usage of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the option to choose NOTA during the elections in state.

While claiming that the EVMs supplied in Arunachal Pradesh are not in good condition and there is every possibility of tampering the machine, the Congress in a representation submitted to the CEO’s office on Tuesday appealed the latter to recommend the Chief Election Commissioner of India to use manual ballot paper instead of the EVMs.

The world’s most advanced and developed countries like USA, UK, Russia and Germany as well as China are not using EVMs. We wonder why India is too much interested in the controversial EVM and NOTA, which has no electoral value, the APCC said in its letter.

NOTA or ‘None of the Above’ has been provided as an option to the voters of India in most elections. Through the usage of NOTA, a citizen can choose not to vote for any candidate who is contesting the elections. NOTA, however, does not guarantee the dismissal of the winning candidate and does not hold any electoral value.

Damien Lepcha is Northeast Now Correspondent in Arunachal Pradesh. He can be reached at: [email protected]