PM should pay heed to his friend Trump's remarks on paper-ballot voting: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to heed his friend, US President Donald Trump, for using paper ballots and not machines for voting to address the concerns of the entire country on the integrity of India's electoral process. Congress general secretary, organisation, K C Venugopal wondered why the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is feigning ignorance of what the entire world is saying and why is its government running away from transparency. "Will PM Modi pay heed to his best friend Donald Trump's message on ballot papers and same-day voting, and address the concerns of the whole nation about the integrity of our electoral process?" Venugopal asked in a post on X.

"I'm sure his best friend will also be appalled at the abnormal increase of lakhs of voters in Maharashtra, or the surgical deletions of opposition votes," he said, citing Trump's remarks at a governors' meeting. At the meeting, Trump was heard urging governors to switch to paper ballots and same-day voting, claiming that machines are expensive. "It is tragic that the BJP is feigning ignorance to what is evident to the entire world, that the electoral system can be severely manipulated and their attitude of running away from transparency is only confirming our suspicions about their malpractices," Venugopal said. The Congress has been demanding a return to the paper ballot system for voting for quite some time, alleging that the results of electronic voting machines are doubtful, even as the Election Commission (EC) has been saying that no one has been able to prove anything wrong with EVMs. The government has repeatedly told Parliament that there is no going back to the paper ballot system.