Bengaluru: “Entire Opposition political parties had expressed concern over credibility of EVMs under PM @narendramodi’s rule. Opposition parties even knocked the doors of the Supreme Court asking for a traditional ballot paper elections to avoid defective EVMs that are vulnerable to fraud,” said Karnataka chief minister slamming the ruling BJP-led NDA government.
H D Kumaraswamy yesterday expressed concerns over the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), even as the exit polls predicted BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would almost sweep Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections.
He further alleged that pollsters were artificially engineering or manufacturing Modi wave that is allegedly being used by the BJP and that they were trying to fill any shortfall after the results on 23 May by luring regional parties into their fold.
Kumaraswamy tweeted even developed countries world wide opt for traditional polls through paper ballets. The exit poll surveys that were revealed on 19 May reiterated the serious concern of the Opposition parties on misuse of vulnerable EVMs for electoral gains by the ruling party.
“The entire exit poll exercise was an effort to create false impression of a wave in favour of one particular leader and the party. As they say, it is just an exit poll, not exact poll,” he added.
Most exit polls on Sunday predicted that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance will comfortably cross the halfway mark of 272 seats in the Lok Sabha. Some even projected that the NDA will get more than 300 seats. Forecasting a big BJP win in Karnataka, the pollsters claimed that the saffron party was likely to win over 21 of the total 28 seats.
In the 2014 general election, the BJP had won 17 seats while the Congress and the JD(S) had bagged 9 and 2 seats each, respectively. However, in the bypolls held in November last year the BJP had lost the Ballari seat to the Congress.
Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara too raised his doubts over the EVMs. He said the ruling party at the Centre sponsored the exit polls and that the ground reality was different. he further asserted that United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will come to power at the Centre this time.
“Most of the exit polls are the reflection of the wishes of news channels. There is a Modi wave in the news channels but the actual result will be out when the boxes are opened,” said Rajya Sabha member B K Hariprasad while speaking to reporters. He further noted that while these pollsters showed BJP losing 40 to 45 seats in Uttar Pradesh, in rest of the places, these channels tried to fill the void.
Meanwhile, Karnataka BJP president B S Yeddyurappa said Congress and the JD(S) leaders questioning the EVMs showed their desperation and people of the country as well as Karnataka have supported Modi and the exit polls giving 22 seats to the saffron party in the state was a proof of that.
“Let’s see what will happen after May 23, fighting is on between Congress and JD(S) already, let’s see where it will reach,” he said.