A day after the BJP did the victory lap in the Uttar Pradesh local body elections, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) together questioned the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) alleging that the machine-conducted elections had favoured the ruling party. They dared the BJP to contest the next elections using ballot papers.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav cited data to highlight BJP’s poor performance in areas where EVMs were not used, whereas BSP supremo Mayawati claimed the BJP would lose in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls if ballot papers are used instead of EVMs.
“The BJP has won only 15 per cent seats in ballot paper areas and 46 per cent in EVM areas,” Akhilesh tweeted, without attributing the source of the information.
The BJP won 14 out of the 16 mayoral seats in UP. The BSP won the two, Aligarh and Meerut. But the SP won none.
Mayawati said, “If the BJP claims that they enjoy the mandate of the people, and the entire country is with them, then they should set aside the EVMs and hold the elections through ballot papers. I can say with full confidence that if the 2019 Lok Sabha polls are held by ballot paper, (the BJP) will not come to power.”
The BSP chief was the first to cast doubts on EVM tampering by the BJP to register a landslide win in the UP Assembly polls this year.
Other parties subsequently made identical allegations leading to the Election Commission challenging the parties to tamper or hack the EVMs. While none of the parties took up the challenge, the EC went ahead to announce the conduct of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections through the VVPAT machines that have a paper trail registering whom a voter has voted.
UP’s Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma rejected the Opposition’s charges of EVM tampering. “There was no shortcoming in EVMs, but it’s in their minds and party. They worked for a particular caste and people have discarded them. We are working for all, irrespective of caste, creed and religion and that has been accepted by the people,” Sharma told PTI.