BJP May Win MCD Election with Electronic Voting
Aam Aadmi Party and Congress fear that BJP will steal the MCD election from them by manipulating the electronic voting machines.
By Rakesh Raman
As all major political parties have started aggressive campaigns for the MCD election which is scheduled to take place in April, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to woo the voters with the promise of making Delhi a better place to live.
Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said Tuesday that the party will contest the election with new faces and with the motto of better and beautiful Delhi.
As it is going to be a cut-throat contest, the main issue will be the possibility of voting fraud instead of oft-repeated rhetoric around crime, corruption, pollution, and so on.
The other major parties such as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headed by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress led by its local president Ajay Maken have voiced their concern about the vulnerability of electronic voting machines (EVMs).
[ Save Delhi – MCD Election News 2017 ]
They fear that BJP will steal the MCD election from them by manipulating the EVMs. Their apprehension may be genuine, considering the fact that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati also has complained about EVMs-based voting fraud in the recent Uttar Pradesh (U.P) election that BJP won last week with ruthless majority.
Obviously, Kejriwal and Maken are spending sleepless nights. The Congress leader has demanded that the MCD election should be held on traditional ballot papers instead of EVMs. Similarly, Kejriwal also prefers ballot papers.
But, as it was expected, the local election authorities have dismissed their demands and the voters will use EVMs to vote.
[ Why You Must Not Trust Electronic Voting Machines in India ]
BJP’s Tiwari has also derided such demands by AAP and Congress, saying it demonstrates their utter frustration and the apprehension that they will lose the civic elections. He added that Kejriwal will lose the election because under his rule the development work has stopped in Delhi.
So, BJP will never allow voting on ballot papers because EVMs suit it in most elections. Mayawati – who is a former chief minister of U.P. – has alleged that BJP has hired software and technology experts to manipulate the voting machines and win the elections.
The way AAP and Congress are expressing their fears about the EVM frauds, it appears that the April election will only be a formality; BJP has already won the election in which the result will be determined by the voting machines and not by the voters.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a government’s National award-winning journalist and runs free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.
Photo courtesy: BJP
