AAP again cries foul over 'faulty EVMs' in MCD polls

NEW DELHI: The AAP today appeared to press the panic button at the end of polling to Delhi's municipal corporations with the party sniping at the state election commission over "faulty EVMs" and resultant "waste" of time.

AAP spokesperson Richa Pandey Mishra claimed people had to go back from many polling stations as "several" electronic voting machines (EVM) turned out faulty.

The Commission said 18 machines were "changed".

"Many machines were faulty so people had to go back. The areas where faults were reported include Mangolpuri, Patparganj and many areas of south Delhi. In some machines, one could not hear any beep after pressing the AAP button," she said.

Pandey said the ensuing delay was avoidable as the officials took time to repair the machines.

Meanwhile, senior party leader Sanjay Singh was asked to leave a booth in Janakpuri by a polling official when he was talking to reporters inside the booth premises.

"You are done with voting so leave now," the official was seen telling Singh in a video that was shared by hundreds on social media.

Queries to Singh did not elicit any response.

Even Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took on the State Election Commission claiming that reports of "faulty" EVMs were pouring in from across the capital.

The Aam Aadmi Party chief also alleged that many voters with valid voter slips were "not allowed" to exercise their franchise in the municipal polls.

Kejriwal had earlier demanded that the election be postponed till arrangements for voter-verified paper audit trail or VVPAT-equipped electronic voting machines (EVMs) were made.

"Reports from all over Delhi of EVM malfunction, people wid voter slips not allowed to vote. What is SEC doing? (sic)" he wrote on Twitter.