Most opposition parties have decided to oppose EC's proposal on remote voting machine, says Digvijaya Singh

Singh said there are huge political anomalies in the proposal for remote voting machine with things like the definition of migrant labourers not clear

Over a dozen Opposition parties will oppose the proposal for the introduction of remote voting for migrant workers at a meeting called by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday, raising “critical” questions on the “ambiguity” in the definition and a number of migrant workers among others.

On Sunday, leaders of 12 parties – Congress, RJD, JD(U), Shiv Sena (Thackeray), CPI(M), CPI, National Conference, JMM, RSP, VCK, Muslim League, and PDP – held a meeting to chalk out a joint strategy for the meeting when the ECI will demonstrate the prototype of Remote Voting Machine (RVM). Independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also attended the meeting.

Also Read | EC to demonstrate remote voting machine to parties on January 16

All these parties will attend the demonstration with senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh claiming that the Samajwadi Party and NCP, which could not be part of the meeting, have conveyed to him that they were opposed to the ECI’s proposal. Parties like Trinamool Congress, DMK, Kerala Congress (M), RLD, MDMK, and AAP, which did not attend the meeting, are also likely to oppose the ECI proposal.

Singh told reporters that the Opposition parties will meet again on January 25 to finalise their written response to the ECI, the deadline of which is January 31. He said the parties may jointly or separately submit their responses but with a “clear mandate that we do not support it”.

“The proposal is very sketchy, it is not concrete. There are huge political anomalies and problems in the proposal. There is no definition of the migrant labourer. The number of migrant labourers is not clear. Therefore, we all have made up our minds to oppose the proposal,” he said.

Singh referred to the doubts about existing Electronic Voting Machines and said the EC has not yet responded to a memorandum submitted by the civil society in May last year. “There are questions on whether it is connected to the internet, which are the manufacturers who supply chips, all those concerns have been documents…We will discuss these also,” he said.

CPI General Secretary D Raja, who attended the meeting, said the EC cannot go ahead without taking parties into confidence and deciding “unilaterally”. He said the Opposition parties will jointly raise “critical” questions during their interaction with the EC.

Senior RJD MP Manoj K Jha, another leader who attended the meeting, said the proposal sent by the EC to parties was “not transparent” and no specific details were provided about the proposed move. He said the EC faces a credibility crisis at present when Article 324, which mandates it to conduct free and fair polls, is not adhered to in letter and spirit.

The EC had on December 29 last year announced that it is ready to pilot remote voting for domestic migrants so that they do not need to travel back to their home state to vote. It said it has developed a prototype Multi-Constituency Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM); invites political parties for the demonstration on January 16.

It also floated a concept note soliciting views from parties by January 31 on legal, operational, administrative, and technological challenges.

Noting that the Commission has been always concerned about around 30 crore voters not exercising their franchise, it said along with urban apathy and youth apathy, inability to vote due to internal migration is also one of the prominent reasons contributing to lower voter turnout.

In its concept note, the EC said migration-based disenfranchisement is indeed not an option in the age of technological advancement. The voter turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha election was 67.4 per cent.