AAP writes to Election Commission urging them to tally EVM votes with VVPAT in Bawana bypoll

New Delhi: The AAP on Monday asked the Election Commission to tally Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) with EVM results in the upcoming Bawana bypoll, in the backdrop of reports of malfunctioning of a voting machine in zilla parishad poll in Maharashtra. In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner AK Joti, the party said the poll body’s decision to tally slips of VVPAT with the results of Electronic Voting Machines in five per cent of polling stations in each seat in the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly polls should be tried in Bawana. “The by-election of the Bawana Assembly constituency is due anytime. This provides an ideal opportunity to the Election Commission to implement the decision to tally the VVPAT slips with the votes recorded by the EVMs,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_3852455” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Bypoll to the Bawana constituency was necessitated after AAP MLA Ved Prakash resigned to join the BJP, days before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls, held in April. The commission is yet to declare dates for the Assembly bypoll. The AAP has been questioning the credibility of the EVMs after its poor show in Punjab and humiliating defeat in the MCD polls. The issue has got a traction after Buldhana district collectorate recently admitted that one of the EVMs that was used in the local body polls held in February was malfunctioning. An independent candidate Asha Arun Zore, who contested the zilla parishad elections, had raised objection in this regard after it was found that the votes were getting registered in favour of the BJP despite pressing the button indicating her symbol.