New Delhi, Mar 28: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) submitted a letter to the Election Commission of India and complained about the alleged Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering in Punjab Assembly Elections 2017. As per the reports, the party demanded that slips generated by Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines be matched with papers generated by the EVMs to verify the Punjab assembly election results.
AAP alleged that the EVMs were tampered with and it was a violation of the fundamental rights. It also claimed that the party conducted an analysis of voting pattern and polling booths and suggested that more votes were polled for AAP than what it received as per the election results.
“There were many polling booths where the number of votes the party received were fewer than the count of AAP supporters in the area. They (supporters) are ready to file affidavits in court stating that they voted for the AAP,” said Chadha.
“Many people who voted for AAP have turned up to us to give affidavits that they voted for us. In several booths we got far less votes than the number of AAP supporters who are ready to file affidavits in those booths,” AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha said after the meeting. “To reinforce people’s faith in electoral process, we demand that wherever VVPAT (Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail) machines were used in Punjab, the election results in those booths be tallied with the paper trail generated by EVMs,” he said.
He also said that tallying slips generated by VVPAT machines with the paper trail generated by EVMs will reinforce people’s faith in the electoral system. “Several political parties including the BJP have cast doubt on the infallibility of the EVMs. The Supreme Court has also said that EVMs are vulnerable. Many developed nations in the world have given up EVMs and use ballot papers to conduct polls because they believe EVMs are vulnerable to tampering,” he said.
AAP also demanded scrap of the Electronic Voting Machines after Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati alleged foul play in the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) after her party’s dismal show in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2017. Many other leaders including Harish Rawat too echoed her views on the matter.
“The results in UP and Uttarakhand are surprising and not palatable to anyone…it seems EVMs did not accept votes polled for any party other than BJP,” said Mayawati. Mayawati also said that she would write to the Election Commission to conduct a fresh poll in the state.
Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal also joined the group of people who alleged foul play in EVMs and demanded voting through ballot papers.
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