Ahead of the elections, there is a riff going on EVMs with all political parties playing a blame game and giving different statements every now and then. It seems that no political parties are on the same page leading to create confusion among voters. A US-based man, Syed Shuja held a press conference via video conference in London to demonstrate how Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) designed for Indian elections can be hacked. His attempt, like many others, failed as he could not prove anything. Here the doubts that are raised in the minds of many are, did BJP tamper with the EVMs to win 2014 Lok Sabha elections? How political parties and Election Commission are looking forward to bring a solution out before the 2019 elections? And most importantly, was the senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde murdered by his own men as he was aware of the EVM hacking?
In a conversation with AV, AAP National spokesperson Preeti Menon revealed about the tampering of EVMs. She said that it’s a proven worldwide fact that EVMs can be hacked. Many western countries have stopped using EVMs and are have gone back to Ballot papers or Digi-cards. Once you are aware that this equipment could be manipulated, you can’t mock our Constitution and democracy.
Menon further stated, “Our party had actually demonstrated an EVM machine in the assembly in which we fitted a manipulated chip because of which every vote was going to Lotus. It’s a threat to democracy. So our minimum demand is, along with every EVM, voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verifiable paper record (VPR) should be provided. As this method provides proper feedback to voters to ensure faultless mechanism.”
The nation being one of the largest democracy, it is believed by the AAP leader Menon that this issue is very important for the voters because the right to vote is the basic right in a democracy. Every citizen can’t approach the Supreme Court or Parliament or assembly to make laws and to ensure their future. The electoral process helps him to reach his voice. So every citizen should open his or her eyes and should demand for an EVM tally.
NCP IT Cell National President Bindu Bhosle expressed, “Many foreign countries have banned EVMs. It’s proven that these machines can be tampered. The EVM tampering issue will definitely affect the voting percentage. Presently, hardly 50 per cent voters go out for voting .This negative publicity about EVM will hamper their trust in the electoral process. However, the mystery about Gopinath Munde’s death should be probed definitely, if it has broken the Constitutional frame.”
All the political parties ahead of the 209 Lok Sabha elections are being involved in the blame game. While on one hand, the BJP on Monday rubbished EVM tampering claims made in London as ‘garbage’, and termed it Congress’ ‘next big lie’ after Rafale. It said that Congress is making hacking a ‘horror show’ of their ‘defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley taking to Twitter, said that ‘insanity’ in the Congress party is becoming ‘contagious’ and called the allegations of EVM tampering ‘garbage’. On the other hand, amid EVM hacking row, Mayawati Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday reiterated her demand that the ballot should be used in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Samajwadi Party MP Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel commented, “All political parties are blaming each other for tampering of EVMs and I believe that there cannot be a fair vote count through EVM. So, me and the party both are totally against the voting carried through EVM as I feel that it is not an appropriate way. Hence, we are always in favour of holding elections through ballot rather than EVMs.”
While BJP MLA Parag Alavani said, “Opposition has no more issues left to criticise our good governance. It’s a big blunder to question the democratic process of our nation on foreign land. Opposite parties are trying to take political advantage of Munde’s death. They are trying to hide their failure by digging such issues. Congress is trying to spread a delusion among the people that we have no mandate .It’s pathetic that the opposition is trying to mislead people on EVM issue and also on Munde’s death.”
The hacker who goes by the name Syed Shuja claimed that he was involved in designing the EVMs for India. He also tried to connect it with slain journalist Gauri Lankesh saying that she was killed because she also found out about the BJP’s master plan of EVM tampering and was thus killed. Was BJP leader Gopinath Munde killed by his own party or was it actually an accident?
CPI(M) MP Badaruddoza Khan asserted, “If Gopinath Munde’s death is linked to EVM then it is a big threat to our democracy and nation. Majority of the population believes that voting should be conducted through ballot papers as it is a trusted source for a long time. AAP had challenged Election Commission on the hacking of EVMs but when EC had accepted the challenge to show them, they backed out. Although, it has not been proved yet whether EVMs could be hacked or not, if the truth is not brought out it will create an impact on the voters’ count leading people into a perplexed situation regarding EVM. Hence, there should be a strict investigation behind Munde’s death and hacking of EVMs.”
When Gopinath Munde went first time to Delhi after winning Lok Sabha elections in 2014, he was given a union cabinet ministership. All of a sudden on June 3, 2014, while he was going to the airport, news hit that a Tata Indica hit his Maruti SX4 and caused his accidental death. As a cabinet minister, he should have more staff except for driver Virendra Kumar and secretary Surendra Nair. Why no security guard was accompanying him? Why his PSO wasn’t accompanying him?
According to the protocol, why there was no pilot car along with his vehicle? While he was died in this mishap, why the other persons accompanying him were not even slightly injured? The case was decided to transfer to CBI but his driver and secretary were not involved in the inquiry.
Under what circumstances daughter Pankaja Munde deleted her post on social media suspecting a foul play about her father’s death? What action was taken against the security personnel who were supposed to accompany him?
The minimum damage to the accidental vehicle, certainly raises suspicion that one victim on back seat leads to dead whereas other two escaped injuries so much so that they took him to the hospital and gave statements. If an all-party committee would probe this matter, shocking facts can be revealed.
In a recent update on January 22, nephew of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde has sought a probe by either the Supreme Court or the Research and Analysis Wing into his death in a road accident in 2014.
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