Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said nearly 100 crore Indians will be eligible to vote in the Lok Sabha elections next year and asserted that the electronic voting machine has increased transparency and efficiency of the country’s electoral system.Addressing the inaugural session of the ninth G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20) here, he invited the delegates to visit India again next year to witness the “festival of democracy” (the next Lok Sabha elections due in 2024 summer).
He said the large voter turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls shows the trust people have in the country’s parliamentary practices.
Over 67 per cent of the 91 crore eligible voters had exercised their franchise in the last parliamentary polls.
He said the electoral process of the country has been modernised and now the electronic voting machine (EVM) has been in use for the past 25 years.
The EVM has brought transparency and efficiency to the election process he said, adding now election results are known within hours of the start of counting.
Several opposition parties such as the Congress have questioned the credibility of the EVM. Some parties like the BSP have demanded return to the ballot system.
The Election Commission has defended the EVMs citing judicial pronouncements in its favour and the government has asserted that there is no going back to the ballot system.