SHILLONG: Principal Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, the United Democratic Party (UDP) raised the issue of malfunction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in elections, during the first meeting of the North Eastern Regional Political Front (NERPF) at Dimapur, Nagaland, on Friday.
“Doubts over the EVMs have been raised by all political parties including the Congress since 2010. But the Election Commission of India (ECI) has not paid any heed to the questions raised by the political parties on the EVMs,” UDP working president Bindo Mathew Lanong said during the meeting.
“There is a need to ask the Election Commission to review the use of the existing EVMs since malfunction of the same has been reported in most of the states,” he said.
The UDP leader also recalled that malfunction of the EVMs had been reported even during the Assembly polls in Meghalaya earlier this year.
“Even the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Meghalaya, Prashant Naik, had admitted to the malfunctioning of the EVMs,” Lanong said, while urging the various regional parties of the North East to put up a unified stand before the Election Commission in demanding use of the latest EVMs in the upcoming Lok Sabha election in the country. He also suggested that the NERPF should try to reach out to the regional forces across the country.
“We should not remain confined to being a front of the regional forces,” Lanong added.
Besides Lanong, other UDP leaders who attended the meeting included Paul Lyngdoh and Allantry F Dkhar.
Support to PCF candidate Rev. Basaiawmoit
The People’s Candidate Forum (PCF) has said that it will continue to support Rev. PBM Basaiawmoit to contest from the Shillong Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
In a statement issued here on Friday, PCF said that so far two parties — KHNAM and HSPDP — have responded to their call to support Basaiawmoit.