New Delhi: The opposition parties are demanding to scrap use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and return to the usage of ballot papers for polling before the General Election 2019. However, Election Commission of India on Thursday said that they are not returning to ballot papers.

 Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said that there was no question of returning to the era of ballot papers. He said, “I would like to make it very clear that we are not going back to the era of ballot papers,”

The national poll body made it clear that while the poll panel was open to criticism from any stakeholder in the matter, including political parties, they will not be intimidated, bullied or coerced into giving up the use of EVMs.In an event Arora said “We will continue to use EVMs and VVPATs. We are open to criticism and feedback from any stakeholder, including political parties. At the same time, we are not going to be intimidated, bullied or coerced into giving up these and start era of ballot papers.”

CSC  announcement came in the wake of an alleged EVM hackathon event in London, where a man made allegations with regard to the possibility of hacking of EVMs. Most of these claims have already fallen flat. However, several political partie have been reiterating their demands for the return to use of ballot papers.