AAP alleges bid to tamper EVMs ahead of counting

■ MR SINGH tweeted a couple of videos, saying voting machines were being taken away illegally. ■ HE DEMANDED that the EC probe where the EVMs were being taken as there were no centres nearby

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged that “something is cooking” and “a game is being played secretly” while referring to the delay in announcing the final voting percentage in the Delhi Assembly elections:

He said: “This is perhaps the first time in the 70year-history of country that the Election Commission is not ready to release the final figure of voter turnout.”

Mr Singh also tweeted a couple of videos, saying voting machines were being taken away illegally. “Does the reserve (forces) not go with the EVM? This official was caught with an EVM by people at Saraswati Vidya Niketan School in Babarpur Assembly constituency,” read the tweet with one of the videos.The other, which showed voting machines being carried across a street, read: “The EC should also probe where these EVMs are being taken. There are no centres nearby.”

The exit polls on Saturday had predicted an easy win for the AAP, which sought to retain power on a development plank, against the BJP that ran an aggressive campaign on the issues of anti-CAA protests and nationalism.

BJP leaders, however, said the exit poll results will “fail” as they did not take into account the votes polled in the evening. A BJP leader said voting had continued beyond the stipulated time of 6 pm while exit poll results started coming just after that. “How can it be representative?” he asked.

Also, the BJP leader said, the voting was “sluggish” in the initial hours and picked up only in the late afternoon when BJP workers actively urged voters to reach polling stations. About 15 per cent of voters had turned up in the first three hours of voting. By 3 pm, the voter turnout had touched only the 30 per cent mark.