Amid a growing political row over electronic voting machines, the Election Commission was set to meet representatives of 55 political parties in New Delhi on Friday, May 12. Of these, 16 parties had asked the commission to go back to paper ballots.

Who is attending

Seven national parties and 48 state parties were invited to talk about whether EVMs can be trusted. It was also expected to brief them on its plan for a challenge in which the machines could be tested for hacking. The date of that challenge was to be fixed after the all-party meeting.

The commission had earlier rejected a claim made by the Aam Aadmi Party, saying the machine AAP used was “a look-alike and not the ECI-EVM”.

The wider agenda

Besides EVMs and the paper-trail system known as VVPAT, the commission said it would raise several electoral reform proposals with the parties:

• disqualifying candidates once charges are framed against them for bribing voters;
• making bribery in elections a cognisable offence, with reports also describing a proposal to make it non-bailable;
• changing the rules so that a recount using VVPAT slips can be ordered more easily.

The commission had set out this agenda in a statement issued the previous week.

See also: Aam Aadmi Party and election news

Originally published on 12 May 2017. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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