Aanna Hazare disagrees with Kejriwal, bats for EVM in elections

1

Social activist Anna Hazare has supported the use of EVM in conducting elections in India saying that returning to ballot papers will be a regressive step.

He told Times Now, “Science and Technology are developing, the world is going ahead and we are talking about using ballot papers! It’s like going backwards.”

He added, “First of all, the voter has to either sign or put his thumb impression on the ballot paper which takes a lot of time. Secondly, the voter has to fold the ballot paper and put it inside the box and thirdly, counting of votes also takes a lot of time.”

Hazare’s comments came after his former colleague in India Against Corruption movement, Arvind Kejriwal, on Wednesday said that the EVMs may have been rigged to favour BJP and its allies in the just concluded elections.

Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Kejriwal said, “First and foremost, I strongly suspect that ours 20-25% vote share has been transferred to Akali Dal and BJP. As a result Congress has won. If they had made Akali and BJP win, it would have been very obvious because nobody would have thought of(their victory). They only had one motive as was evident from Arun Jaitley’s statement both before and after the polls. That at no cost should Aam Aadmi Party form the government.”

Kejriwal’s allegations of EVM tampering came after the BSP supremo Mayawati made similar charges in the just concluded assembly in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP won a historic three-fourth majority.

Mayawati had said, “The results in UP and Uttarakhand are surprising and not palatable to anyone…it seems EVMs did not accept votes polled for any party other than BJP. It is a matter of common discussion here that even if button is pressed for any other party, vote will be polled in favour of BJP.”

The BSP chief had claimed that a similar complaint was made by her partymen in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but she had preferred to stay silent thinking it was Modi wave and anti-Congress sentiment.

 

Previous articleED summons Geelani, Yasin Malik in FEMA case
Next articleAmarinder to take oath as chief minister on Thursday, Phoolka to be leader of opposition