‘It’s time we…’: Jagan Reddy backs Congress’ claim of ‘manipulation’ of EVM after Haryana results | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday came out in support of the Congress party’s claims of “EVM manipulation” and said: paper ballots must be re-involved in the electoral process to “build confidence”.
Referring to the Haryana Assembly election results, which defied exit poll predictions in favor of the Congress, the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister said “another election result confuses people’s perception”.
Jagan also drew a parallel between the Andhra and Haryana survey results to claim that both the outcomes are “not different”.
Notably, in the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, held concurrently with the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the YSRCP was routed as it won only 11 seats in the 175-member assembly.
“Another election result confuses people’s perception. Haryana election The outcome is no different from that in Andhra Pradesh, where cases are pending in the courts. In one democracy Like ours, democracy must not only rule, but flourish. The only way to guarantee both is to go back to Paper Ballot,” Jagan Reddy said in a post on X.
The YSRCP chief further said that India, like the developed nation, should use paper ballots to “enhance the confidence of the electorate”.
“When a vast majority of developed countries, including the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, France, Japan, Norway and Denmark, use paper ballots, it is time we join the rest of the world to make changes and towards Paper Ballot, which in turn would increase the confidence of the electorate. The legislators should come forward to instill confidence,” Reddy wrote.

Reddy’s statement comes a day after the Haryana poll results that gave a mandate against the Congress as the party managed to win only 37 seats in the 90-member House of Representatives.
After the results became crystal clear, the Congress rejected the mandate alleging that it had been deprived of victory in the Haryana polls and that the system had been abused.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Congress had to lose but it “has not lost”.
Convincing to give in, the Congress also wrote a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI), which dismissed the party’s claim as “far from a legitimate part of freedom of speech and expression”.
In a sharp response to Congress’ claims of ‘manipulation’, the EC wrote to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge: ‘Such an unprecedented statement as above in a generic sense, unheard of in the country’s rich democratic heritage, is far from a legitimate element. of freedom of speech and expression and moves towards an undemocratic rejection of the will of the people expressed in accordance with the legal and regulatory electoral framework, which is uniformly applied in all elections in the country, including J&K and Haryana .