After Exit Polls indicate NDA victory, AAP leaders and journalist spread fake news to discredit EVMs

Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (Image credits: Scoopwhoop)

The opposition parties, in recent times, have made it a habit of trying to undermining the legitimacy of BJP’s electoral victories by claiming that EVMs have been tampered with to unfairly benefit the saffron party.

Soon after the Exit Polls for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections were released, which hinted at NDA’s return to power, numerous politicians alleged that EVMs were tampered with. Congress President Rahul Gandhi himself voiced those allegations.

The Aam Aadmi Party, too, hasn’t been far behind with these wild allegations. In fact, Arvind Kejriwal cited EVMs as one of the reasons his party may not do to well in these elections.

And on Tuesday, Deputy CM of Delhi, Manish Sisodia claimed that EVMs were being caught nationwide in open vehicles by the public. He further alleged that journalists were deliberately maintaining a stoic silence on the matter so that they could attack the Opposition parties instead after the results were declared.

https://twitter.com/msisodia/status/1130655714081292290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Sisodia’s allegation appears to have been motivated by a tweet by one Vikas Yogi, National Media Coordinator of AAP. In his tweet, Vikas had alleged EVMs were caught in vehicles in Jhaansi and the people in the vehicles had made a run for it.

https://twitter.com/vikaskyogi/status/1130530036363255809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Brajesh Kumar Singh, Group Consulting Editor at Network18, whose news report was cited by Vikas Yogi to make his claims, responded to Sisodia’s allegations slamming him for his tweet and asserted that the media had been tracking this news aptly. He further asserted that the AAP media coordinator’s version of events was greatly at odds with actual facts.

https://twitter.com/brajeshksingh/status/1130657717671137281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Singh, in his tweet, had shared the screenshot of a Bhaskar report from the 30th of April, after the 4th phase of elections. The report speaks of EVM and VVPAT machines being caught in a private vehicle along with the city magistrate in Jhansi which created a ruckus. Upon receiving news of the matter, the District Magistrate reached the spot. In the presence of representatives from all political parties, the machines were checked and it was found that they were actually unused. Soon after, the ruckus dispersed by itself and things returned to normalcy.

Not just politicians, even certain journalists have resorted to peddling Fake News to further their political agenda. Faye DSouza of Mirror Now stated that the Election Commission ought to confirm that it is going to investigate the allegations that are being made against EVMs.

https://twitter.com/fayedsouza/status/1130705879882510336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As it turns out, the Election Commission has already responded to these allegations. It has labelled them ‘baseless’ and ‘frivolous’. The EC has further stated that wherever any issue was raised, it was resolved amicably after discussions with all the stakeholders involved.

https://twitter.com/manakgupta/status/1130708504451272709?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
It appears there is a concerted attempt underway to discredit the EVMs used in the Lok Sabha Elections. It could have devastating consequences for our democratic institutions as the faith of the citizenry on these institutions is being undermined for petty politics.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia