As the Lok Sabha elections inch towards a finale, political parties eagerly await the results that will divulge their fate. The exit polls have predicted 0-1 seat for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi leading the party to prepare excuses to dump the blame, in case the predictions come true.
From ‘Muslims’ to ‘EVMs’ to floating the ‘election should be cancelled’ theory, AAP is busy trying different tricks up its sleeves. In its latest move, compelled by the frustration of electoral loss, the party has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) with bizarre allegations. The party claims they have information that their political opponents will “attempt to open strong rooms housing EVMs to manipulate or replace machines.”
Requesting for additional security at the counting centre of Jija Bai, ITI for women, Siri Fort, New Delhi, AAP claimed to have information from credible sources that political opponents have planned to gerrymander with EVMs either on the night of May 21, 2019, or May 22, 2019, to the hours leading up to the actual counting on May 23, 2019.
#AAP says they have information that their political opponents will “attempt to open strong rooms housing EVMs and manipulate or replace machines”. Asks Election Commission to increase security. @the_hindu @THNewDelhi @abaruah64#LokSabhaElections2019 @AamAadmiParty @ECISVEEP pic.twitter.com/uN3uDfb0sm
— Nikhil M Babu (@ikasnik) May 20, 2019
Furthermore, to avoid such situation, AAP urged the EC to take the following actions:
- Appointment of another additional observer to oversee the entire electoral process.
- Additional CRPF security at the Jija Bai institute where South Delhi’s EVMs are housed.
- Strict enforcement of entry permission.
The exit polls have predicted a gloomy number for AAP. As soon as the numbers were out, party’s MP to Rajya Sabha Sanjay Singh started raising questions over the elections. He suggested the elections should be cancelled in case of a mismatch between VVPAT and EVM vote count.
His demand is not surprising considering their party chief, who had probably conceded defeat even before the last phase of voting, started cooking up excuses to fall back on, just in case his party did not perform well in the ongoing polls.
Arvind Kejriwal while talking to Indian Express had said that Muslim votes “shifted” to Congress at the last minute during the Lok Sabha polls in the capital.
This is not the first time Congress or AAP have indulged in this kind of mudslinging. It was earlier revealed that Congress had asked Muslims not to vote for Atishi Marlena, AAP’s candidate, because “she was a Jew.”
In response to a question about his opinion on overall results, the AAP chief displaying his obsession with the EVM’s said “If they do not tamper with the EVMs, Modi ji should not come back… but I do not know whether they would do it or not.”
Interestingly Kejriwal’s obsession with EVM tampering theory is not exclusive to this election season. He has been trying to peddle this theory for years. In fact in 2017, after AAP faced defeat in the Punjab Assembly elections it had tried using a similar excuse. The ECI had then sent a detailed response to AAP, which had claimed that EVMs could have been tampered with.
However, the apprehensions and the jitters all the political party members are going through at this moment will soon be put to rest when the results of the Lok Sabha elections, manifesting India’s mandate, will be declared on May 23.
