Even as the Supreme Court dismissed a plea submitted by 21 Opposition parties led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to review its judgment rejecting 50% random physical verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) using Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) during the counting slated for May 23, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has extended support to the demand to ‘save democracy’.
“At a time when eyebrows are being raised over the functioning of the EVMs and VVPATs this general elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has failed to clear the air conclusively. Voting is the ultimate tool in the hands of the voters to save democracy and if they lose faith in it, it will spell doom for the country,” CPI State Secretary K. Ramakrishna told the media here on Wednesday.
He also questioned Chief Election Officer Gopal Krishna Dwivedi as to why no action was taken against TDP MP J.C. Diwakar Reddy for his statement of spending ₹50 crore in Anantapur.
The CPI will organise meetings in all districts from May 13 to highlight the need for ‘saving democracy’, he added.