New Delhi, Jan 30 (UNI) Alleging the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of vote tampering in the Chandigarh Mayor Election, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the BJP appointed its party office bearer as the presiding officer to manipulate ballot papers.
Addressing the media, Kejriwal alleged, “Since the beginning, their intentions seemed malicious; firstly, they appointed their party’s office bearer as the presiding officer. And then when the elections were scheduled to be held on January 18th, their appointed presiding officer fell ill suddenly on the same day, so the elections were indefinitely postponed.”
“We went to court, and the elections were rescheduled. During that period, they attempted to threaten our (AAP’s) and Congress’s councillors. Fortunately, not a single one succumbed to their tactics,” he said.
“The process of counting votes is that the agent from each party would be present, and each vote is shown to all agents. If any agent wishes to object, claiming that a vote is invalid, it is shown to all of them. Then the presiding officer gives their ruling,” Kejriwal said, adding, “This presiding officer appointed for the Chandigarh Mayor election has not allowed any agent inside or nearby.”
“He solely checked all the votes, and it is visible on camera how he marked our votes as invalid by placing tick marks. He was signing on some votes and putting tick marks on others. There were 36 votes to be counted, out of which 16 were in their favour and 20 were in ours. However, 16 votes turned in their favour, and out of our 20 votes, they declared 8 as cancelled and invalid,” the CM alleged.
“When the previous elections were held, only one of our votes was declared invalid. So, it’s not that our people don’t know how to cast their votes; they know how to vote. They did it in the previous election as well how did this happen that our party workers forgot to cast a vote this time? They (BJP) had premeditated the plan to create chaos; fortunately, everything was caught on camera,” the AAP Convenor said.
“Today’s election shows that they (BJP) can go to any extent to win elections. They manipulate the voter list, orchestrate fake voting, tamper with EVMs; they must be doing everything to secure a victory,” Kejriwal said.
“If BJP can declare 25% votes invalid in the Chandigarh Mayor Election, what will it do in the national elections? Kejriwal questioned, saying, “If BJP loses the Lok Sabha elections, they will not leave the chair; they will stick to the chair like Donald Trump, even if Martial Law has to be imposed.”
“76 years ago on this day, Mahatma Gandhi, the priest of non-violence, was assassinated. On the same day, they murdered democracy. This is a dark day for democracy. Fortunately, their dishonesty was captured in a video, and the whole nation is witnessing it,” he said.
“The issue is not about who should be a mayor, but the issue is that a nation should not lose, and democracy should not lose. Today, these people have won the Chandigarh mayoral election with hooliganism and dishonesty. If the nation doesn’t stop it, then it will be dangerous for the nation in the coming days,” the CM alleged.
On asking about the INDIA alliance seat sharing, he said, “Positive talks are underway, and soon the decision will come out.”
He further said, “BJP will not win because the INDIA alliance is strong, despite whatever they did in Bihar.
On JD(U) abandoning India Bloc and returning to NDA, Kejriwal said ‘Last time, they gave 17 seats to Nitish Kumar, and if they give him those 17 seats again, the latter will lose all the 17 seats. They (BJP) deceived the people of Bihar,” he added.
