Nara Lokesh, the Minister of Information Technology, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development in Andhra Pradesh, took to Twitter and criticised a biased decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI.)
By ignoring the genuine demand of the majority of parties in the Country to count 5 VVPAT slips first, the Election Commission has shown once again whose side it wants to take.
— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) May 22, 2019
The ECI, on the 22nd of May, rejected the plea of approximately 21 opposition parties, who wanted 50 % of the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips to be counted in every constituency.
Later, the parties moved the Supreme Court (SC,) which ordered the ECI to look into the matter and give a decision.
The ECI, a day before the results of the Lok Sabha elections, refused the plea for counting 5 VVPAT slips in every Assembly. The ECI ordered the ECI officials and poll observers to count the votes based on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs.)
Nara Lokesh, the Member of Parliament (MP) candidate from the Mangalagiri constituency in Andhra Pradesh, was angry with the decision of the ECI and expressed his anger on Twitter.
A genuine and fair demand for transparency is chucked out the window without a reason. A dark day for Indian democracy!
— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) May 22, 2019
The opposition parties claimed, the ECI is the puppet of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP.) They further said, by refusing a genuine demand for transparency regarding the counting of votes, the ECI proved they are supporting the BJP.
This is not the first time the opposition parties blamed the ECI of being partial towards the BJP. Even during the Income Tax raids, the opposition parties raised a question about the fairness of the ECI and sought answers about the same.
The ECI will conduct the counting of the votes on the 23rd of May. After the counting of the votes, it will be announced which of the parties, the Indian National Congress (INC) or the BJP, will win the elections.
Stay tuned for further updates about the Lok Sabha elections.
