A file photo of people waiting outside a polling booth before casting their votes in the civic polls in Mumbai.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Amid the controversy involving use of marker pens to ink fingers and the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) being not used during the recently-concluded municipal corporation elections, the Congress has demanded that the February 5, 2026 polls to zilla parishads and panchayat samitis be conducted using ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs).
“The recently concluded elections to 29 municipal corporations in the State have completely torn the veil off the election system. The extremely low voter turnout in cities is not merely due to voter apathy, it is an indicator of the public’s declining trust in the electoral process,” senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra unit president Nana Patole said.
According to him, several States in the country have decided to conduct local self-government elections using ballot papers instead of EVMs to maintain public confidence and avoid disputes.
Patole has also shot off a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare in this regard.
“Why this insistence on EVMs in Maharashtra alone, and for whose benefit? These are the questions voters are asking,” he said.
'Indicators of inefficiency'
Patole further said that discrepancies in the voter lists, voters having to wander for two to three hours in search of polling booths, and thousands of voters being forced to return without casting their votes are all serious indicators of the Election Commission’s inefficiency.
“This situation is dangerous for democracy. An extremely serious issue is that the VVPAT system was not used in the municipal elections, thereby depriving voters of their right to verify their vote. Adding to this, the ink applied on voters’ fingers was getting wiped off after washing hands. Due to all these factors, serious questions have arisen regarding the transparency and credibility of the election process, as well as the impartiality of the SEC,” he said.
Describing the zilla parishad and panchayat samiti elections as the backbone of democracy, he said: “If an atmosphere of doubt, mistrust, and mismanagement prevails regarding these elections, it will have a grave impact on the health of democracy. Therefore, considering public sentiment, these elections should be conducted using ballot papers instead of EVMs," Patole has said in the letter.