The AAP leadership has blamed EVMs for the party's poor show in the Punjab assembly election and the MCD polls, but not many in the party are ready to buy this claim.
Contrary to AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal's stand, party MP Bhagwant Mann said there was no use in finding fault with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the party should introspect on the reasons behind its defeat in Punjab. Mann also slammed the party leadership for "behaving like a 'mohalla' (local) cricket team," and said AAP had committed a "historic blunder" in Punjab with regard to the overall electoral strategy.
AAP Punjab state convener Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi also endorsed Mann's remarks.
After the party won only 20 seats in Punjab, Kejriwal had alleged tampering of EVMs in the polls.
Reacting to Mann's position on EVMs, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the party would introspect on reasons behind its defeat, but that it does not mean EVMs were not tampered with.
"Looking at the situation, it seems that there is an EVM wave in Delhi," Sisodia said.
"There is no reason why people should vote for the BJP (in the MCD polls). We will analyse the reasons behind our defeat. We would have understood had there been a difference of 2-4 seats, but the margin between the two parties can only happen by rigging the EVMs," Sisodia said.
In Delhi, as the party leadership blamed the EVMs for its defeat in the MCD polls, a Delhi minister did not agree with the views held by the top brass. Several volunteers, the backbone of the party, are also refusing to buy the claims made by the leadership.
"We need to see why we lost in Delhi despite winning 67 out of 70 seats in Delhi just two years ago," the minister said. An MLA from Central Delhi echoed the minister's sentiments.
"The reasons are shocking as we did not expect to do so badly. Although the party blames EVMs for the defeat and we need to look into the reasons behind the loss, my view is different. But I shall toe the party line on this," the MLA said.
