Ahead of EC's all-party meet, Congress urges to bring back ballot papers for 2019 elections

The Congress including other opposition parties will once again appeal to the Election Commission (EC) to introduce ballot papers for future elections ahead of EC's all-party meet on Monday.

The party had moved a resolution in this regard in its 84th plenary session in March.

The EC has called the meeting with seven national and 51 state recognised political parties to discuss various electoral issues such as electoral rolls, limiting political parties' expenditure and timely submission of annual audited reports by parties among other things.

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At least 17 parties, including the NDA ally Shiv Sena, have been pitching for returning to ballot papers. The parties are - Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party, CPI-M, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), DMK, CPI, YSR Congress, Kerala Congress Mani (KCM) and AIUDF.

Earlier in March, the Congress had asked the EC to allow voters to exercise their franchise by stamping the ballot paper in the 2019 elections, alleging tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

On August 2, at least 17 political parties, including Telugu Desam Party (TDP), and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) sang in tune with the Congress and expressed their distrust on the existing voting process.

However, the BJP brushed aside the tampering allegations, saying, it's an attempt by the opposition parties to cover up their own defeats in the recently concluded polls.

(With inputs from ANI)