Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal added fat to the fire that is the burning issue of whether electronic voting machines (EVMs) can be tampered with by urging the Election Commission (EC) to not use the machines in the upcoming Municipal Corporation Of Delhi (MCD) elections.
The MCD polls will be held in April this year, and the BJP will look to return to power there. However, Kejriwal wants his party to rule the three corporations under the MCD and has promised that he will turn Delhi into London if the AAP comes to power in the civic bodies.
The Congress is believed to be behind this move by Kejriwal. Congress leader Ajay Maken had tweeted as early as Monday (March 13) urging the Delhi chief minister to ensure that the MCD elections are held on ballot paper.
Many are doubting EVMs-
— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) March 13, 2017
Not prejudiced-nor casting aspersions on results;
I want @ArvindKejriwal to hold MCD elections through BallotPapers
On Tuesday, he even put out the letter he had written to Kejriwal to get the MCD elections conucted through ballot paper and not EVMs.
The Congress and the AAP's aversion to EVMs may have stemmed from multiple allegations from the likes of BSP chief Mayawati and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat, that the BJP had hacked the EVMs used in the just-concluded elections and managed to get more votes.
BJP retorts
The BJP was quick to retort to this proposal by Arvind Kejriwal. Actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari told reporters: "If Kejriwal ji does not have faith in EVMs, let us have re-polling on the 67 Assembly seats he won [in the 2014 Delhi Assembly elections]."
The AAP had managed to nearly sweep the Delhi Assembly elections of 2014, winning 67 of the 70 seats in the House, while only three of them went to the BJP. The Congress had none. The voting had taken place through EVMs.
