The charge by Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal that its vote share in Punjab got transferred to the Shiromani Akali Dal, which lost the elections in Punjab, via tampered electronic voter machines is ridiculous. Relying on pre-poll surveys, which said AAP would sweep the polls, Kejriwal asked how SAD managed to garner a vote share of 31% while his party got 25%. He claimed that Congress victory in the State was sorely on account of tampered EVMs and demanded that the forthcoming municipal polls in Delhi be held with ballot papers. As far as excuses go for losing an election, this one is the most creative. It shows that Kejriwal has no knowledge of the polling process or the safety systems introduced by the Election Commission of India to ensure that nothing untoward happens. In addition, the ECI has introduced a paper trail which can be tallied in case an EVM develops a fault. Unless Kejriwal can conclusively prove that the EVMs were tampered with his claim must be rejected. Instead of assigning silly excuses for his party’s loss, Kejriwal must focus on why it lost. Trying to replicate the success in Delhi is a tough challenge and sometimes what is good for Delhi might not be good for Punjab or Goa. AAP needs to do a re-think on its political strategy.
