Lawmakers of Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress on Monday held a sit-in in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue on the Parliament's premises demanding elections be held by ballot paper instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs). The party, which has been crying foul over the use of EVMs in recent parliamentary polls, said their agenda for the protest was - "No to EVMs, Yes to paper ballots."
Mamata had earlier questioned the use of electronic voting machines in the polls and urged opposition parties to unitedly demand the return to ballot papers and hinted at manipulation of EVMs. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo said a fact-finding committee should be constituted to find out the details about the EVMs used in the recent polls.
Trinamool Congress suffered major setbacks in the national election in Bengal securing 22 seats, four more than the Bharatiya Janata Party which made major gains in the state, raising its tally of just two in the previous poll in 2014. Trinamool had got 34 seats five years ago out of a total of 42 in Bengal.
