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UBG has also urged the Election Commission to keep on hold its decision to delete names of Goan voters who have taken Portuguese nationality from the voting list.
Submitting a memorandum to Assistant Electoral Officer, Narayan Navti, UBG said paperless electronic voting system has been criticized for its authenticity.
“In a collaborative study, a team of India and international experts have revealed that the electronic voting machines used in Indian elections are vulnerable to fraud. Even brief access to EVMs can allow criminals to alter the election result,” said Sanjay Barde, President of UBG.
He said to bring transparency in the election, there was urgent need to have votes on paper. “Computers can be used to count votes honestly but since nobody can watch them they might just as easily be programmed to count dishonestly,” Barde said reiterating that paperless class of voting system has intrinsic security problems.
UBG has demanded that the EVMs be fitted with a paper trail to ensure accuracy along with a backup ballot system. “Once you vote, you get a receipt for your vote and also a backup ballot in case there is an error,” the UBG said.
Further, the UBG has requested the State Chief Electoral Officer not to delete names of Goan voters from the voting list who have Portuguese nationality.
“Until and unless the Centre takes a decision on dual citizenship no such deletion should be done from the voters’ list, as our native Goans will permanently lose their voting rights,” the UGB president said.
ECoI has decided to introduce voter-verified paper audit trail in around 200 booths in Goa on experimental basis. There has been a demand from some political parties to introduce the system in all 1,600 booths. It may be recalled that in the 2012 assembly election, former PWD minister, Churchill Alemao had alleged that the EVMs were manipulated against him.
Sanjay Barde, President of UBG told The Goan that Assistant Electoral Officer, Narayan Navti gave them
a patient hearing and promised to forward the memorandum to ECI.
