Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday asked the Punjab chief electoral officer to stop all activities on the premises of buildings with strongrooms where electronic voting machines are stored.
In a joint statement, AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich, legal cell convener Himmat Singh Shergill, and dialogue committee chairman Kanwar Sandhu said the possibility of sabotage cannot be ruled out.
The statement said the district returning officer in Patiala was allowed to shift old EVMs at the same complex where Assembly poll EVMs were stored.
They said that although the Election Commission has clarified that the EVMs removed by district officials were those used in civic polls, the action was “unusual” and “suspicious”. The AAP leaders said the district authorities had no business to enter the complex. They said some 15,000 AAP volunteers were monitoring EVM storage, and will prevent any attempt by the ruling SAD-BJP alliance to sabotage the election.
They said the ruling alliance leaders were “frustrated” over imminent defeat, and may go to any length to sabotage EVMs. The EC should not to allow any official to go beyond the first circle of security, the joint statement said.
