K'taka CM Siddaramaiah demands use of ballot papers for Karnataka Assembly polls

Amid raging debate over the EVMs and Congress knocking the doors of the Supreme Court seeking counting of VVPAT slips, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has demanded that the state assembly elections, to be held in 2018, be held using ballot papers.

With all the exit polls predicting outright win for the BJP in Gujarat, Siddaramaiah said that it would not have any impact on Karnataka elections.

Speaking to reporters at Raichur, he said, 'What we



are saying is go to the old (ballot paper) system, what is the difficulty?'

A PTI report quoted Siddaramaiah as saying that he spoken to experts and there were chances that the EVMs could be tampered with.

'They (BJP) have the power. The Election Commission is under them. Though it is an independent constitutional body, they (central government) appoint the Chief Election Commissioner,' he said to a query about allegations of EVM tampering.