The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party was raking up the issue of paper ballots “apprehending imminent defeat” in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Vijender Gupta argued that the reiteration by AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh of holding elections through paper ballots showed how “nervous” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP had started “looking for excuses for the defeat in advance.”
“Even before the Lok Sabha elections, different political parties including AAP had complained against the misuse of EVMs in the electoral process. They had complained that the result of the election can be manipulated through tampering of EVMs,” Mr. Gupta argued.
“The Election Commission of India had then challenged all political parties, including AAP, to come and prove their allegations of influencing electoral results by tampering with EVMs. But no party came forward to prove their allegations,” Mr. Gupta Both the Election Commission and the Supreme Court have rejected the demand for holding elections with paper ballots instead of EVMs, said Mr. Gupta.
With technological advancements, he argued, the “nation is moving ahead toward paperless functioning. Even the Delhi Legislative Assembly has initiated steps to become paperless. But on the contrary, AAP was demanding to return to the stone age.”
‘Back to stone age’
“Voters are now well aware of the utility of EVMs and they do not want to go back to Stone Age for voting...it was by virtue of these EVMs only that Aam Aadmi Party got brutal majority by winning 67 out of 70 seats in the last assembly elections,” he said.
