Arvind Kejriwal now a days has picked up a new obsession passion which involves alleging faults in EVM’s which might hinder elections from getting conducted freely and fairly.
He has already spread an outright lie about EVM’s registering wrong votes. He had also claimed that 25% of AAP’s votes during the Punjab polls were shifted to other parties due to faulty EVM’s and had demanded that the Election Commission count the VVPAT slips for the truth to come out. The EC did the same and came to the conclusion that there was no fraud.
Also in the buildup to the MCD elections, Kejriwal had taken an aggressive stance when it comes to EVM’s.
First Kejirwal wanted EVM’s substituted in favour of ballot papers. This request was denied by the State Election Commission in March. The State Election Commissioner S K Srivastava had claimed that for allowing Kejriwal’s request, the rules needed to be amended first which was a time consuming exercise. But Kejriwal then demanded a postponement of polls if needed.
After this episode, on 12th April Kejriwal wrote to S K Srivastava the State Election Commissioner, asking for a withdrawal of all the EVM machines which were brought from Rajasthan alleging that they were tampered. In the letter Kejriwal had expressed his shock over the possible usage of Generation 1 EVMs which he claimed were the most insecure.
After the voting yesterday Kejriwal again pulled up the SEC for a supposed chaos which was unfolding during the voting:
Reports from all over Delhi of EVM malfunction, people wid voter slips not allowed to vote. What is SEC doing?
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 23, 2017
So going by Kejriwal’s behaviour till now, it might be safe to assume that Kejriwal is completely dissatisfied with the SEC and its commissioner’s way of functioning. He had also cast possible aspersions on the organization and its chief when he alleged that they had procured insecure EVM’s. Maybe the State Election Commissioner is a “Modi agent”?
But for many, including those with the BJP, it was shocking to know that Kejriwal had cast aspersions on an organization’s functioning which according to them is being led by Kejriwal’s ‘own man’:
Election Commisioner for #MCDpolls is @ArvindKejriwal‘s man & his own choice. Still he’s doubting SEC ? Such a liar & nautanki this man is. pic.twitter.com/ESQYkhD57N
— Satish Upadhyay (@upadhyaysbjp) April 23, 2017
So the SEC is currently being led by a man called, Sanjay Kumar Srivastava who took over as the Commissioner in November 2016. Srivastava a 1980 batch IAS officer was the former Chief Secretary of Delhi.
Incidentally Srivastava took charge as Chief Secretary in January 2014 replacing D M Spolia after he was recommended to this post by Arvind Kejriwal. It was also reported that Kejriwal had sent a letter to the Union Home Ministry requesting for Srivastava’s appointment.
The story does not end here. Not just was Srivastava Kejriwal’s choice, during his tenure as Chief Secretary, he was also allegedly biased against the BJP. According to reports, senior BJP leaders like R P Singh had alleged that Srivastava was working at the behest of AAP leaders.
Singh had claimed that he kept asking Srivastava to spare him some time for a meet, but Srivastava didn’t meet him for as many as 45 days. All this resulted in him and others escalating the matter to the Home Ministry which in August removed Srivastava from the post.
So not just was Srivastava appointed by Kejriwal, according to BJP leaders, he also had a somewhat sympathetic tilt towards the AAP. So if all this is true then why is Kejriwal casting aspersions on the SEC which as reports suggest should be a ‘friendly’ organization. Maybe a statement by the AAP would clear matters.
