Bengaluru, 5 Sept

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday defended the decision on going back to ballot paper for local body polls, saying that it was made “based on experience”, while the BJP claimed that the Congress was “self-certifying” its own vote theft.

The Congress government on Thursday had decided to recommend to the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold all the future panchayat and urban local body polls in Karnataka using ballot paper instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil had cited erosion of confidence and credibility, among people towards EVMs.

“Based on our experience, we have decided that the ballot paper should be there. There are examples where several countries have returned to ballot paper from EVMs,” Siddaramaiah told press in City on Friday.

The Cabinet has also decided to authorise the State Election Commission to “prepare, revise and, if necessary, redo” the electoral rolls for local body polls, citing discrepancies in electoral rolls and allegations of “vote theft”, which were recently made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

However, the Opposition BJP claimed the decision amounted to “self-certifying” that the ruling party came to power through “vote theft.”

Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra said that the Congress under Rahul supports ballot-based elections only because "electoral irregularities, booth violence and fraudulent voting can be committed without hesitation" through ballot papers.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar hit back, saying, “Why is the BJP worried? The government can hold local body polls, there are provisions in law, which was enacted during their (BJP) tenure, saying that either ballot or EVM (can be used)….. Why you (BJP) horrified?”

Comparing BJP’s opposition to “thief’s mind is a mess”, the Deputy CM said, “We have investigated what happened during the parliament election.”

Noting that this decision of the State government regarding ballot paper is for local body polls, he said, the Central Election Commission will decide for Assembly and Parliament polls.

Meanwhile, AICC Secretary-in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the State’s decision was a bold step towards restoring democracy and voter confidence in the system. He said the move came from the party’s High Command.

He also lauded the decision to prepare a separate voter’s list, saying they would become more “transparent”.

“Until now, the voter list prepared by the Election Commission of India (ECI) was used for local body elections,” he said.

He added that it would allow the State government to regularly update the rolls for Gram Panchayat, Taluk Panchayats, municipal councils, or corporations, something which the Central body wouldn’t be able to.