‘EVMs Fine When They Win, Rigged If They Lose’: Inside Details Of BJP’s Plan To Counter Congress, AAP Narrative
The meeting at BJP president JP Nadda’s residence was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, among others. (PTI File)
The Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) may have been the buzzword from the opposition camp, but the ruling party, too, is planning a counter.
With less than 24 hours to go for the Lok Sabha election results to be out on Tuesday (June 4), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a meeting at party president JP Nadda’s residence on Monday, which was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santosh, among others, with an eye on EVM, among other issues.
THE BJP’S STRATEGY
With opposition leaders like Congress’s Digvijaya Singh and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal indicating EVM tampering, after most exit polls suggested a landslide victory for the BJP, the party’s top leadership, which will face the media on Tuesday, has been asked to be prepared with facts and figures to counter the narrative.
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The party’s media department will brief all its spokesperson about instances such as Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and the recent Telangana assembly poll wins where the Congress did not complain. Exact quotes of leaders will also be kept handy for Tuesday, say sources.
Many leaders have started quoting some of them. Piyush Goyal said on Sunday, “If they lose an election, they blame the EVMs. But if the result is in their favour, they don’t utter a word.” This comment came in the backdrop of Kejriwal’s remark before going to Tihar Jail, where he said he has asked his party leaders to be watchful.
Meanwhile, Digvijaya Singh said, “If people’s votes are counted, the BJP will not get a majority and INDIA alliance will get more than 295 seats. If this number doesn’t come, then EVMs have been tampered with.”
On Tuesday, the BJP leaders will be ready with statements such as that of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Revanth Reddy, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Siddaramaiah after winning in their respective states and X posts of opposition leaders congratulating them, say sources.
SEAL, FORM 17, I CARD, SEEING THE PROCESS CRUCIAL
Leaders who were in attendance at the BJP meet, including Vinod Tawde, Manohar Lal Khattar, Ashwini Vaishnav, Tarun Chugh, Shiv Prakash and Mansukh Mandaviya, have been asked to ensure party workers keep a sharp eye on EVMs. The leaders have been asked to spread the message that all booth cadres should ensure a seal on every voting machine.
If any seal is not looking fine or giving any clue of possible tampering, the BJP, too, should complaint about it, party sources said. “Workers have been told that if they notice any tapering on the white paper of the seal of EVMs, they should immediately complain to the authority concerned,” said a party source.
The BJP workers have also been asked to check Form 17 and tally with the number of votes written on it. Form 17C is a comprehensive record of information that is provided to polling agents. Every BJP worker attending the counting has been asked to maintain three things — carry an identity card, arrive half-an-hour before the counting begins and not to leave till the counting is officially declared over by the Election Commission. Many political workers tend to get excited and leave mid-way after a giant lead for their candidates.