CM Kejriwal, Yogendra Yadav cry foul over ‘faulty EVMs’

New Delhi: Taking on the State Election Commission (SEC) on Sunday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the reports of faulty electronic voting machines (EVMs) were pouring in from across the national capital on the polling day.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo also alleged that many voters with valid voter slips were “not allowed” to exercise their franchise in the municipal polls. The Delhi CM has been raising his pitch against the EVMs and had earlier demanded that the election be postponed till arrangements for VVPAT equipped electronic voting machines were made.

“Reports from all over Delhi of EVM malfunction, people wid voter slips not allowed to vote. What is SEC doing? (sic)” he wrote on Twitter.

Former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav led Swaraj India party registered a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) regarding the EVM malfunctioning. A copy of the complaint was posted on the party’s official Twitter account. “Button number 7 of the EVM in the above booth has been allotted to the complainant/candidate. Shakuntala Devi and several others (who are registered voters of above booth) have reported to the complainant/candidate that with the intention of voting for the candidate, they pressed Button No.7 but they could not hear any beep. Further, the button did not return to its original position after being pressed,” the complaint filed by Avika Sakha, who is the advocate and legal adviser of the party, said.

An SEC official admitted that there were reports of “technical glitches” from a few places but added that the faults were rectified.

The VVPAT machine dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box, but the voter cannot take it home. The voters, however, can see the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slip for seven seconds. Earlier, after casting his vote, Mr Kejriwal urged the voters of Delhi to come out of their houses and exercise their franchise for a “dengue and chikungunya free Delhi.” “I appeal to the people to come out in large numbers and vote for a chikungunya and dengue free Delhi,” he said. Asked if the MCD polls were a referendum on the AAP government, he said, “We will see that when the results are declared.”