Election Commission Is Dhritarashtra Blindly Helping Son: Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: In the latest of his daily attacks on the Election Commission, Arvind Kejriwal today described the body as "Dhritarashtra", the blind king of the epic Mahabharata, trying to help his son Duryodhana at all costs. The Delhi Chief Minister has been accusing the powerful election body of not doing anything to stop the use of Electronic Voting Machines amid allegations of tampering. 

"The Election Commission is helping the BJP like Dhritarashtra tried to help his son Duryodhan take power using every trick in the book," Mr Kejriwal said on Monday, accusing the commission of bias.

The Aam Aadmi Party chief has been demanding that ballot papers be used instead of EVMs in the April 23 Municipal Corporation of Delhi or MCD elections.

There were allegations that on Sunday, in by-polls in nine states, 18 machines were found to have been tampered with.

The Election Commission has repeatedly and emphatically denied AAP's allegation that doctored EVMs had a role to play in the recent elections in Uttar Pradesh and other states.

The allegations surfaced after the video of an EVM demo in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind became viral online; a VVPAT or Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail that confirms the party that the voter has chosen kept ejecting BJP slips.

After investigating, the Election Commission denied that there was any fudging.

"I am an engineer from IIT and know how things work. This is not malfunction, it is tampering," Mr Kejriwal said. "If you press any button, it is the BJP that is getting votes. For the MCD elections also, tampered EVMs are being requisitioned," he added.

At least 13 opposition parties have now decided to unite and take up faulty EVMs with the Election Commission as well as President Pranab Mukherjee.

Among the other opposition leaders who have strongly suggested manipulation of EVMs is Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, who ascribed the BJP's colossal mandate in the UP polls to manipulated voting machines.