Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati call for abandoning electronic voting machines

During a news conference at the Samajwadi Party headquarters in New Delhi, Akhilesh Yadav announced that his party would oppose the use of electronic voting machines regardless of electoral outcomes, even if it won all constituencies. He questioned the necessity of multiple voting technologies and pointed to the United States and Germany, which continue to rely on paper ballots, as models to follow. Mayawati added that voters must be certain their votes cannot be diverted or miscounted, describing any such suspicion as a threat to democracy.

She recalled that India used paper ballots for decades before adopting EVMs and noted the BJP’s previous criticism of the machines while in opposition, yet its failure to eliminate them after forming the government. The remarks came amid a wider debate over the Election Commission’s handling of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, which the commission defended as routine consultation.