ITANAGAR, Jun 2: The People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) has raised doubt over the reliability of the electronic voting machines (EVM) in the state, saying out of over 300 EVMs in the Papum Pare district election office in Yupia alone, around 20 have been rejected because of faults.
According to a PPA statement, a party delegation led by its president Kahfa Bengia visited the Papum Pare DC’s office a few days ago to enquire about the robustness of the EVMs, “after the overconfident statement by Chief Minister Pema Khandu that the BJP would win all 60 seats in the next state assembly elections.”
The party said it came to know from the election officials that out of over 300 EVMs, around 20 have been rejected because of faults.
“There have been numerous instances of questionsbeing raised by opposition parties across the country over the robustness and reliability of the EVMs.
“When the CM is going around making overconfident and baseless statements, one can only wonder if he has made any arrangements to tamper with the EVMs,” the party stated in a press release on Saturday.
Continuing taking jabs at the CM, the party said, “At a time when the whole nation is dissatisfied with the BJP government over unfulfilled promises like 15 lakh rupees to every Indian, 2 crore jobs per year, smart cities, and rising prices of petrol and diesel, the practice of making such grand claims by the BJP government is a worrying trend.”
It said there must be “some strong reason for their overconfident claims.”
Expressing doubt over the reliability of the EVMs, the party said, “In the recently conducted election in Palghar in Maharashtra, 100 EVMs stopped working due to ‘hot weather,’ as a result of which 50,000-60,000 voters could not cast their votes.
“Eventually, the BJP candidate won by a narrow margin, prompting the Shiv Sena to accuse the BJP and the Election Commission of having formed an alliance,” it said.
