Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Nana Patole has directed the State Law and Justice Department to prepare the draft of a Bill which provides an option to voters to exercise their franchise on ballot papers along with electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Mr. Patole had on Tuesday called for a hearing of a petition filed with the office of the State legislature by one Pradip Uke arguing that such a law could be enacted under existing constitutional provisions and it only required an initiative from the State legislature.
“Article 328 of the Indian Constitution and number 37 of the State list of seventh schedule of the Constitution provide rights to the State legislature to formulate a law on the manner of holding elections within the State. We are not saying to abolish EVMs completely. We are demanding an additional provision of ballot paper as well for whoever wants to use that,” said advocate Satish Uke, who represented Mr. Pradip Uke, in the hearing held in front of the…