Extract:
Seventeen Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, are planning to approach the Election Commission, demanding that ballot papers be used to conduct the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The 17 parties would meet next week to discuss the plan.
“This is a matter on which all Opposition parties agreed. We are planning to meet next week. We plan to go to the Election Commission and demand that the EC conduct the coming Lok Sabha elections using ballot papers,” Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien told reporters.
“All Opposition parties should go to the EC on this matter. There should be a joint delegation of Opposition parties to EC,” Ms. Banerjee was heard telling party leaders, including from the Congress. The Trinamool Congress had staged protests outside Parliament, questioning the neutrality of electronic voting machines, and demanded that ballot papers be brought back for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.