Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav said it was "very irresponsible" of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to question the credibility of EVMs as there is no "substantial evidence" to back the claim. Mr Yadav, who was expelled from the AAP after he questioned Mr Kejriwal's style of functioning, said, the promise to abolish house tax is an act of "desperation" as the AAP is staring at a "big defeat" in the upcoming MCD polls.
On Mr Kejriwal's demand to use paper ballots instead of EVMs in the MCD polls, the Swaraj India leader said, "It looks very silly".
"...because this leads to sowing of seeds of doubts among ordinary people about the entire electoral process," he said.
"This is very irresponsible. I have not seen any substantial evidence (of EVM tampering). To say that the entire voting system is rigged in order to favour the BJP, I think, it brings disrepute to India's voting system. In the long run it brings disrepute to those who say these things," Mr Yadav told.
He, however, endorsed the AAP demand of using Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in the civic polls. He said, Mamata Banerjee had made similar claims on EVMs after she lost the West Bengal Assembly polls in 2006, but she remained silent when she won in 2011.
On the Bhind episode in Madhya Pradesh where one of the VVPAT machines was dispensing only BJP symbol slips notwithstanding the button pressed, Yadav said this at least shows that any fraud in the machines is detectable.
"It (the vote cast) could be seen when you pushed the button, only the BJP symbol (slip) came out....the point is that it came out and it was seen. If a fraud is committed you can see it with your own eyes. The fraud is detectable. It also demonstrates that the machine is good," Mr Yadav said.
Mr Kejriwal has yesterday suggested that the state election commission postpone the MCD polls and switch to paper ballots. Mr Yadav said, Mr Kejriwal's promise of abolishing house tax, if AAP comes to power, is an indication that the party is staring at a defeat in the MCD polls.
He said Mr Kejriwal made such "utterly irresponsible" promise because he knows it cannot be implemented.
"Arvind realises that he is staring at a big defeat in the MCD polls after Punjab (Assembly poll loss), which is why he is making such promises," the Swaraj India leader claimed.
