The Congress on Thursday criticised the Election Commission on the National Voters' Day for refusing to meet INDIA bloc leaders on its demand for greater use of VVPATs in polls, terming it as an "injustice" that strikes at the very foundations of democracy.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also said that the National Voters' Day reaffirms the power of the people to determine their own destiny by exercising the freedom to elect their own representatives.

In a post on X, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said every year January 25 is celebrated as the National Voters' Day by the Election Commission of India.

But sadly, this independent institution has been simply refusing to meet a delegation of leaders belonging to the INDIA bloc who only want to put across their point of view on the greater use of VVPATs when voters cast their vote, he said.

"VVPAT is nothing but Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail. This persistent refusal of the ECI is an ANYAY that strikes at the very foundations of our democracy, the right of the voter to verify that their vote has been recorded accurately," Ramesh said.

Kharge also said, "We are proud that the election process of Universal Adult Suffrage, has deepened to the grassroots, Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies, as our towering founders had imagined." "India's tryst with Democracy is a story which needs to be told time and again, but any complacency enables authoritarian tendencies to gain ground," he said.

"Today, we are at a juncture where safeguarding the independence of our institutions is paramount, so that Democracy is protected and the Constitution is upheld," Kharge said.

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