Blaming EVMs alone will not help: Vishwas

Blaming EVMs is not good. It can be a factor, which can be raised and discussed, but we failed to reach out to the voters. The party should introspect the reasons for the loss.

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party leader Kumar Vishwas on Friday held the party leadership responsible for the defeat in the municipal election in Delhi and the assembly polls in Punjab and Goa last month.

In an interview to India Today TV, Vishwas said that instead of blaming the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the party should introspect. He alleged that the party seniors take decisions behind closed doors and even the appointment of labour minister Gopal Rai as the Delhi convener on Thursday was taken without any discussion with other party members.

“Gopal Rai was given charge of Delhi by Arvind Kejriwal. Nothing was discussed. The decision was announced in the PAC (political affairs committee),” Vishwas said.

Vishwas, one of the tallest leaders of the party and member of the top decision making body, Political Affairs Committee (PAC), said one of the main reasons behind the party’s humiliating defeat in MCD elections was that the party’s brass has lost connect with grassroots workers. He pointed out the party needs an overhaul. AAP MLA Somnath Bharti agreed with Vishwas and said the party needs to think beyond EVMs. “The question raised by Kumar Vishwas is on every AAP member’s mind. Every member who has served for this party and worked hard is worried. If we say the party has lost because of the EVMs then that would not be right,” Bharti told ANI.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, senior Party leader Sanjay Singh played down the allegations and said the Gopal Rai issue was discussed in the meeting in which “Kumar Vishwas was present and he said he (Rai) would prove to be a good convener”.

Without taking Vishwas’ name, Singh also said that the party was ‘introspecting’ on its mistakes and the party’s efforts to ‘rectify mistakes’ would yield better results if the issues are raised in a party forum instead of before the media.

“Only Kumar Vishwas can respond (why he is making the allegations) on it. As far as the party is concerned, it’s justified that several questions would crop up,” Singh said.