Mayawati Demands Return to Ballot Papers, Alleging EVM Rigging in Lok Sabha Election and Warning of Eroding Faith in Democracy

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has called on the Election Commission of India to abolish Electronic Voting Machines and restore the ballot paper system, citing alleged manipulation in the Nagina Lok Sabha constituency. She warned that unresolved doubts over EVM integrity and limited VVPAT verification are destroying public confidence in democracy, especially among Dalit and marginalized communities. Analysts still expect opposition parties to contest the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections using EVMs.

By Rakesh Raman
New Delhi | September 29, 2026

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has urged the Election Commission of India to abolish Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and reinstate the ballot paper system. Speaking at a press conference at the BSP headquarters in Lucknow on September 28, 2026, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister raised serious allegations of machine manipulation in the Nagina Lok Sabha constituency and warned that persistent doubts about vote-counting accuracy threaten public faith in Indian democracy.

Mayawati framed her demand as a constitutional issue. Invoking Article 324 of the Constitution, which places the superintendence, direction and control of elections under the Election Commission, she stressed that every citizen’s vote must be registered exactly as cast. Any failure to guarantee this alignment, she said, amounts to “the murder of democracy, which will come under the category of a heinous crime.” She added that unaddressed concerns about EVM integrity erode confidence in democratic institutions and discourage her party’s supporters—particularly Dalits and extremely backward classes—from voting.

Also Read:

[ Rahul Gandhi, EVMs, and Indian Election Theft ]

[ EVM Fraud, Not SIR, Drives India Election Row ]

[ EVM Vulnerabilities Shadow Voter Roll Row ]

[ मायावती की मांग: ईवीएम हटाओ, बैलेट पेपर लाओ: ऑडियो विश्लेषण ]

Central to her allegations is the 2024 Nagina reserved Lok Sabha result. Official figures showed Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) candidate Chandrashekhar Azad winning with 5,12,552 votes (51.19 percent), a margin of 1,51,473 votes over BJP’s Om Kumar (3,61,079 votes). The Samajwadi Party candidate polled 1,02,374 votes and the BSP candidate received only 13,272. Mayawati asserted that Azad lacked a genuine support base in Nagina and was “engineered to win” through EVM rigging designed to harm the BSP and split the Dalit vote at the behest of the BJP. She further accused him of misleading young people and drawing them into protests that damage their futures.

Mayawati contrasted the current system with India’s earlier practice. For five decades until the late 1990s, elections were conducted with paper ballots that were sealed, transported and counted publicly in the presence of agents from every contesting party. She recalled that the BJP itself had once opposed EVMs while in opposition, publishing a book that claimed the machines’ electronic chips could be hacked and noting that most advanced democracies rejected them. After coming to power, however, the party retained and expanded the EVM system.

The BSP had earlier approached the Supreme Court seeking a return to paper ballots. The court upheld EVMs but directed the introduction of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units. Mayawati maintains that VVPATs have not resolved the problem because the Election Commission does not cross-verify 100 percent of the paper slips against electronic tallies. Partial verification, she argued, leaves an audit deficit and fails to assure voters that their intent is accurately recorded.

Her position aligns with wider opposition concerns. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has stated that the “soul of the King is in the EVM,” while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has said he would distrust EVMs even if his party swept all 80 Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha seats. Opposition voices also point to a pattern of selective outcomes in which critical contests are allegedly influenced while non-critical states continue to elect opposition parties.

Despite these criticisms, political analysts expect opposition parties, including the BSP, to participate in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections through the existing EVM system. Mayawati’s latest intervention nonetheless keeps the demand for a full return to publicly counted paper ballots at the centre of the debate over electoral integrity in India.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.