AAP meltdown on counting eve, Saurabh Bharadwaj says EC's EVM decision 'can lead to Civil War'
Increasingly opposition amping up rhetoric on EVM
The Aam Aadmi Party Wednesday accused the Election Commission of working with the BJP to "tamper" EVMs to get the results of the Lok Sabha polls in its favour.Leaders of 22 opposition parties had met the Election Commission on Tuesday and demanded verification of VVPAT slips of randomly-selected polling stations before the counting of votes begins Thursday. The EC on Wednesday rejected the demand.
"First counting would be done to decide who won the election and after that VVPAT random check would be done," AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said.hit out at the EC's decision, saying it is purposely creating such an atmosphere that "riots are ensured in the country".
"The BJP with the EC is tampering the EVM machines. They are saying the results would be delayed because of it, when we waited for so long for result what change would some more time make," he told reporters.
This comes on a day when EC has snubbed the opposition's demands regarding EVM.
The Election Commission on Wednesday rejected the demand of opposition parties which sought tallying of VVPAT slips for an entire assembly segment if even one of the five samples does not match with votes polled in EVMs.The current provisions say five randomly-selected EVMs will be verified in each assembly segment with the VVPAT slips
The decision comes a day after leaders of 22 opposition parties, led by TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, met EC officials and alleged discrepancies in EVM machines. They also demanded that the EVM-VVPAT tally should be done at the beginning of the process of counting.
The delegation also included the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who handed over a memorandum to the Commission enlisting their demands. "If any discrepancy is found in the tally, then VVPAT for the whole assembly segment should be counted. We do not know what is the problem of the Election Commission? Former Chief Election Commissioner has also endorsed our demand. Former President (Pranab Mukherjee) also made it very clear that EC should keep transparency and create confidence among Indian voters," Naidu had said after the meeting on Tuesday.