Voting Through Ballot Papers Not Possible: CEC Sunil Arora on Maharashtra Assembly Polls

The CEC said a few political parties had asked the commission about voting through ballot papers.

Published: September 18, 2019 9:38 PM IST

By India.com News Desk | Edited by Manmath Nayak

Voting Through Ballot Papers Not Possible: CEC Sunil Arora on Maharashtra Assembly Polls

New Delhi: With a few months left for Maharashtra Assembly polls, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora on Wednesday said voting through ballot papers is not possible, its history now.

“Few political parties have asked about voting through ballot paper. We have told them it is not possible, its history now,” Arora said.

Talking about the benefits of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the CEC said that the EVMs cannot be tampered with.

“Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) cannot be tampered with. EVMs can malfunction but cannot be tampered with,” Arora said.

The CEC said the commission has asked chief secretary whether it should continue work there (Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur districts affected by floods recently) or not, if they make a need-based case for something then the Commission will consider sympathetically.

Earlier in the day, the ECI reviewed the poll preparedness in the state ahead of the Assembly elections.

“Election Commission is looking after the poll preparation. They are meeting with political parties. We told them that the Commission should prepare a plan since Diwali festival is also coinciding. We said that the election should be held in phases. We demanded that the Media Certification Committee should be open 24×7 and approve publicity material quickly. We also requested that expenditure of a candidate should also be increased,” Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai told ANI.

Meanwhile, Desai earlier in the day had suggested the Election Commission to set the upper limit of expenditure for Assembly elections at Rs 28 lakh.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Anil Desai said, “We have asked Election commission to increase expenditure limit for assembly elections & rationalise submission of criminal antecedents by candidates. The upper limit is set at 28 lakhs. Of this 10-12 lakhs are spent on criminal antecedents.”

Maharashtra Assembly elections are due in October-November this year.

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