MARGAO: Former chief minister Churchill Alemao, on Tuesday, demanded with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to make use of electronic voting machines fitted with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) devices at all Goa’s 1600 polling booths for fair and just elections.
Speaking to media in Margao a day ahead of the scheduled visit of the officials of Election Commission to the state to see the poll preparedness, Alemao said, “It is known that the VVPAT-fitted EVMs will be used only at 284 polling booths during the forthcoming election. But my demand is that the Election Commission of India shall make provision for using such VVPAT-fitted EVMs at all the 1600 polling booths.”
He further said that during the last assembly election, there were apprehensions that EVMs were malfunctioning, leading to marking of votes to the candidates other than the one chosen by the voters, which led to an impression that the wrong candidates became victorious.
Alemao, who had alleged that EVMs had been misused and that was the reason for his defeat, added that he will try to meet the Election Commission officials and explain about the earlier EVM incidents.
“I am demanding that such VVPAT-fitted EVMs be used on a priority in the Benaulim constituency,” he said.
Commenting on his possible entry into the Congress fold, he said,“I will decide after September 30 for the Congress party to consider my offer. I will take my supporters into confidence and based on their suggestions, I would be taking an appropriate decision.”
He said that though Luizinho Faleiro and he have maintained family relations, their political views may differ.
“As a family, we are united. But politically, our views may be different,” he added, when asked about his offer to the Congress over the ticket issue.
Speaking further, Alemao alleged that “the AAP is related to the RSS, and hence the people of Goa would not accept them in the electoral battle.”
“Even Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s relatives are with the RSS,” he added.
