EVMs faulty, AAP alleges poll machines favour NCP's Praful Patel

Mumbai: The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Maharashtra unit strongly objected to “faulty” electronic voting machine (EVMs) in the Bhandara-Gondia constituency on Tuesday and decided to appeal to the CEC to postpone polls until machines are tested and certified to be functioning properly.  AAP alleged that no matter which button is pressed on the electronic voting machines (EVMs), votes would be registered only in favour of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) nominee Praful Patel. “This happened on the night of April 6. While verification of machines was supposed to be carried out on April 2, it was postponed, ostensibly because of 26 candidates in the fray,” an AAP statement issued in Mumbai on Tuesday said. It alleged that the collector and other district officers tried to stall scrutiny of EVMs and even threatened punitive action against AAP volunteers when they insisted on more elaborate and transparent scrutiny. “Five more machines were reported as faulty by the collector of Gondia and when the report regarding faulty machines came, it stated the number of machines to be 20. The verification process has been video recorded. The entire credibility of the election process rests on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) doing their job without fault or favour. One case where this does not happen, throws the whole exercise into doubt,” the AAP statement said. The AAP also stressed that every EVM should be scrutinised carefully to confirm its trustworthiness. “Lok Sabha election 2014 is riddled with instances of malpractice and violation of the Model Code of Conduct. AAP, true to its stand against corruption in all places, has filed complaints with the concerned election authorities asking for appropriate action,” the AAP statement said. PTI