‘Faulty’ EVMs throw water on voters’ spirit
The Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) played a spoilsport at many booths on Sunday. In fact, former Congress leader and new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joinee Arvinder Singh Lovely had to return from a polling booth in East Azad Nagar without casting his ballot after an EVM malfunction.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh also expressed dissatisfaction with the EVMs. “We had demanded BB pads for voting. As per the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision, BB pads should be used, so that people can see their vote cast to their party. But, the government decided against it,” Singh said while coming out of a polling booth.
Then voters from areas such as Patparganj in east Delhi, Burari in north Delhi, Kapashera in south Delhi, and GTB also complained about faulty EVMs. “The machines are not working here. We are disappointed and moving to another booth,” Lovely said.
In fact, furious over the issue, voters created a ruckus outside a polling booth in Patparganj. “The EVMs are not working in polling stations. The officers are also not helpful. This happens every year. Still, the authorities do not have any back-up plan,” Patparganj resident Shashi Srivastava said.
Highlighting the same problem, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: …read more