Jagan Mohan Reddy calls for bringing back ballot papers

Amaravati, Oct 9 (IANS) YSR Congress Party president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday called for bringing paper ballots back to enhance the confidence of the electorate. 

Reacting to Haryana Assembly election results, he said the only way to ensure that democracy not only prevails but also thrives is to go back to the paper ballot.

"Yet another election result confounds popular perception. Haryana election result is no different from Andhra Pradesh, on which cases are pending in courts. In a democracy like ours, Democracy should not only be prevalent but also be seen to be thriving. Only way to ensure both, is going back to Paper Ballot," he said in his post on X.

"When a large majority of developed countries including USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, France, Japan, Norway and Denmark are using paper ballot, it is time we make changes with rest of the world and move towards Paper Ballot, which in turn would enhance the confidence of the electorate. The lawmakers should come forward to instil confidence," he said.

The YSRCP President’s comments come in the backdrop of surprise in some quarters over the result of the Haryana elections. The Congress, which lost the election despite exit polls giving it a majority, has termed the results unexpected. The BJP created a record to retain power in Haryana for a third consecutive term.

This is not the first time that Jagan Mohan Reddy has called for going back to ballot papers.

In June after the defeat of his YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh elections, he had called for using ballot papers in the country to uphold the true spirit of democracy. He had said this while joining the debate over the possibility of hacking Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). "Just as justice should not only be served, but should also appear to have been served, so should democracy not only prevail but must appear to be prevalent undoubtedly," he had said. He mentioned that almost every developed country is using ballot papers.

"In electoral practices across the world in almost every advanced democracy, paper ballots are used, not EVMs. We too must move towards the same in upholding the true spirit of our democracy," he said. Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose party suffered crushing defeat in the recent simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, joined the debate following tech billionaire Elon Musk's call to eliminate EVMs. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had termed the EVMs in India a “black box”.