Day after civic poll results, slugfest begins over EVMs
LUCKNOW : A day after the BJP feted itself for winning 14 out of the 16 mayoral seats in the state, its victory has been rendered bitter by serious allegations of bungling in voter lists and manipulation of electronic voting machines (EVMs).
BSP chief Mayawati said “with full confidence” that the saffron party would lose the general elections due in 2019 if ballot papers are used, instead of electronic voting machines.
She was speaking to reporters after paying tributes to Buddhist monk Bhadant Pragyanand, who died on November 30.
“If the BJP claims that they enjoy the mandate of the people, and the entire country is with them, then they should set aside the EVMs and hold the elections through ballot paper. And, I can say with full confidence that if the 2019 Lok Sabha polls are held by ballot paper, (the BJP) will not come to power,” she declared.
Elsewhere, Akhilesh Yadav, president of the Samajwadi Party, took to Twitter to point to a discrepancy in the BJP’s voteshare in different areas. “BJP has only won 15% seats in ballot paper areas and 46% in EVM areas,” he said in a tweet.
At many places — like Meerut, Kanpur, Lucknow — there have been reports where a candidate who voted for himself, ended up with zero votes, raising ques- tions about the fairness of the process.
“EVMs have been tampered with to ensure victory of BJP candidates. This is clear from results of seats where ballot papers were used. The BJP’s performance on EVMs and ballot papers is different,” claimed senior Congress leader Pradeep Mathur.
Even the first time entrant into UP civic polls, the AAP, has made inroads into the state polity. AAP won 19 nagar panchayat member seats, three nagar panchayat chairmen seats and 15 nagar palika parishad member seats, apart from three corporator seats in urban bodies. Said Vaibhav Maheshwari, the party’s state spokesman: the “humble beginning with so little resources and cadre is more than heartening”.
He said the BJP should definitely be worried about its prospects in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the urban body polls have not been “exactly in their favour” as they are tom-tomming.
UP BJP general secretary Vijay Pathak, however, launched a counter attack on the opposition saying instead of carrying out an introspection these parties were blaming the EVMs for their poor performance.
“SP was voted out of power only eight months ago and the civic poll outcome has shown that the party is on a decline. The BSP should clarify how the party won two seats of mayor -- in Aligarh and Meerut -- if the EVMs are faulty. Both the parties are distorting facts to blame the EVMs,” said Pathak, adding, “The debate on use of EVMs is already over. The opposition are poor losers.”
UPSEC Satish Kumar Agarwal refused to comment on the issue. Other officials said the SEC did not own the EVMs and they had been received from the EC.