the goan I network
PANAJI
Addressing the press, Congress leader Girish Chodankar said that the entire exercise of postal ballots was not above board and that
postal ballot were neither secret nor were they ‘free and fair’ as there was ample evidence to the contrary.
“As soon as possible the postal ballots should be cancelled and the holders should be given 24 hours to go and cast their votes in EVMs,” Chodankar said.
He also raised the issue of the reliability of the Electronic Voting Machines arguing that for the Election Commission to save face, it would be advisable if they are counted simultaneously.
“Around the country there are allegations that the EVMs are being tampered with and that they are susceptible to malfunctioning.
In view of this it would be appropriate that the slips from the VVPAT machines are counted along with the votes from the EVM readings. That will strengthen the reliability,” Chodankar said.
Representative of the Nationalist Congress Party Avinash Bhosale raised the issue of the en masse voting of members of the defence forces in Navelim and
Ponda saying that procedure was not followed for their inclusion in the voting lists.
“One needs to verify if their names have been cancelled in their home state or whether they continue to have voting rights there.
That was not done and in a day many were made voters,” Bhosale said.
The parties also raised the issue of the high expenditure for this year’s polls
estimates of which range from `40 crore to `57-crore.
