India
Things looked grim for AAP after the exit polls which suggested a BJP sweep in all three municipal bodies.
Updated : Apr 24, 2017, 12:48 AM IST
Things looked grim for AAP and Congress after the exit polls which suggested a BJP sweep in all three municipal bodies. According to ABP News exit polls, BJP is set to secure 218, AAP 24 and Congress 22 wards. While the Axis India Today Exit Poll predicts that BJP will win 202-220 seats, AAP 23-35 seats and Congress languishing at the last place with 19-31 seats. This mini-referendum shows that there is a tooth and nail fight for the second place while BJP is completely in a different league leading the pack.
While Kejriwal and co had started playing the EVM card after the Punjab Elections results, AAP’s Preeti Sharma Menon went a step further and blamed the EVMs for exit poll results!
Twitter was in splits over the statement:
Jai EVMs https://t.co/Leo0MTSxlH
— Preeti Sharma Menon (@PreetiSMenon) April 23, 2017
lol, blaming EVMs for #ExitPolls! @PreetiSMenon lives upto the reputation of a certified #aaptard https://t.co/7lYatS0OYJ
— Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) April 23, 2017
WTF has an #ExitPoll got to do with #EVM
— Pious Kaffir (@PiousKaffir) April 23, 2017
You guys have completely lost your marbles.
Hahahahahaha#MoronAlert https://t.co/KK175LVsbe
Soon, AAP will blame global warming because of Tempered EVMs.https://t.co/CiviVdvXfI
— Pls DON'T suspend. (@abdullah_0mar) April 23, 2017
Where @PreetiSMenon blames EVMs for exit poll results. #CantMakeThisUp pic.twitter.com/Ds938B5qA0
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) April 23, 2017
BJP hacking voters brain https://t.co/buwVerXGSP
— vijay giraddi (@vijaygiraddi) April 23, 2017
@IndiaBTL @PreetiSMenon Logic has nothing to do with @AamAadmiParty pic.twitter.com/nEWnbbquRR
— Narendra Joshi (@narendrapjoshi) April 23, 2017
The AAP today appeared to press the panic button at the end of polling to Delhi's municipal corporations with the party sniping at the state election commission over "faulty EVMs" and resultant "waste" of time.
AAP spokesperson Richa Pandey Mishra claimed people had to go back from many polling stations as "several" electronic voting machines (EVM) turned out faulty.
The Commission said 18 machines were "changed".
"Many machines were faulty so people had to go back. The areas where faults were reported include Mangolpuri, Patparganj and many areas of south Delhi. In some machines, one could not hear any beep after pressing the AAP button," she said.
Pandey said the ensuing delay was avoidable as the officials took time to repair the machines.
Meanwhile, senior party leader Sanjay Singh was asked to leave a booth in Janakpuri by a polling official when he was talking to reporters inside the booth premises.
"You are done with voting so leave now," the official was seen telling Singh in a video that was shared by hundreds on social media.
Queries to Singh did not elicit any response. Even Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took on the State Election Commission claiming that reports of "faulty" EVMs were pouring in from across the capital.
The Aam Aadmi Party chief also alleged that many voters with valid voter slips were "not allowed" to exercise their franchise in the municipal polls. Kejriwal had earlier demanded that the election be postponed till arrangements for voter-verified paper audit trail or VVPAT-equipped electronic voting machines (EVMs) were made.
"Reports from all over Delhi of EVM malfunction, people wid voter slips not allowed to vote. What is SEC doing? (sic)" he wrote on Twitter.