Strong EC, strong democracy: Chawla

Kolkata: Nov 20 About 582 million epic cards have been issued by the Election Commission so far covering 82 percent of the total electorate of India, Chief Election Commissioner Navin B. Chawla said here Friday.

He said Kerala, Pondicherry, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu are already 100 per cent equipped.

Chawla was interacting with the members of the committee of Merchants' Chamber of Commerce.

He said one reason why this year's General Elections were lauded was the integrity of the officers. Elections were in safe hands, he said.

The 79,000 million cameras, the runners, the motor-cycle riders, the micro-observers, all ensured free and fair polls, the CEC said.

Chawla was in favour of a three-men commission than a one-man commission, in which case a vacuum would never be created when one person retires.

Chawla said 100,000 auxiliary poll stations were added to facilitate those voters who couldn't vote all these years out of different kinds of trepidation. It is now taken care of that the polling stations are not more than 2 km walk for the voters.

That booth capturing or locking up voters in buildings were things of the past were also highlighted by the CEC. Regarding EVM machines, Chawla said the Commission was completely satisfied with the machines. In no way could the machines be tampered, he said.

Chawla also mentioned that every political parties, independents, were approached by the Commission to know of the issues that worried them.