AAP to launch ‘Save Democracy Movement’ over EVM tampering
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party will take its fight against EVMS to the doorstep of the Election Commission (EC) on Thursday with a protest rally ‘Save Democracy Movement’ and will demand that VVPAT- equipped voting machines be used in all future elections.
Casting aside the poll panel’s assertion that EVMS cannot be manipulated, the party claimed that its MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj’s “live demonstration” in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday had “conclusively proven” that Electronic Voter Machine’s (EVM) can be rigged.
The party announced that its Delhi MLAS and senior leaders will lead the protest rally in front of the EC office in central Delhi around 11 am.
AAP Delhi Convenor Gopal Rai told a news conference that the party would participate in an allparty meeting called by the EC on the issue on May 12 and decide the next course of action based on its outcome.
“The Commission in its response said we used a dummy and not an actual machine in Tuesday’s demonstration. We request the EC to arrange a hackathon. We will show how its own machines can be rigged,” said Rai. Apart from demanding that voter-verifiable paper audit trail (Vvpat)-equipped EVMS be used, the party will approach the EC with the request that votes registered in EVMS and paper trails of 25 percent randomly chosen booths be tallied, added the Convenor.
The Vvpat-equipped EVMS dispense a paper slip which helps a voter confirm that his vote has indeed gone to the candidate of his choice.
Participating in a discussion on the issue during a day- long special session of the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday, Bhardwaj claimed that a voting machine could be manipulated by simply feeding it with a “secret code”.
Using what his party claimed was a “prototype EVM” developed by “a group of Iitians”, Bhardwaj, himself an engineer, showed how it could be tampered with to favour a particular candidate. The Election Commission, however, dismissed Bharadwaj’s assertions.
The Delhi Assembly also urged President Pranab Mukherjee to ensure that EVMS with VVPAT are used in all future elections.
Meanwhile, reacting to former Water Minister Kapil Mishra’s hunger strike, who has demanded details about the funding of foreign trips by five AAP members, the party accused him of following a script penned by the BJP.
Mishra, whose mother is a former BJP mayor, said instead of tagging him as a “BJP agent”, the AAP should come up with specific answers.