A quick look at VVPAT enabled EVM constituency results show that there is no truth to allegations of EVM rigging

[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]C[/dropcap]onspiracy theories of opposition parties fall flat about the possibility of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) rigging in BJP’s stunning victory in Uttar Pradesh. In the Assembly elections, the Election Commission installed Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) EVMs in 20 constituencies. BJP won 17 seats in these constituencies and Samajwadi Party got three. Maywati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which made all sorts of allegations of EVM rigging got nothing.

A sobering moment for Political parties too as they should realize that with the advent of Social Media, the electorate is well informed of the slant being published in print and television medium.

The 20 constituencies where VVPAT enabled EVMs were installed are: Agra Cantt, Agra South, Aligarh, Allahabad North, Allahabad South, Arya Nagar, Ayodhya, Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur Urban, Govind Nagar, Jhansi Nagar, Lucknow East, Lucknow North, Lucknow West, Meerut, Moradabad Nagar, Saharanpur Nagar, Varanasi Cantt and Varanasi North.

Among these 20 constituencies, Samajwadi Party won only Arya Nagar, Meerut and Saharanpur Nagar.

This clearly shows the that entire Uttar Pradesh was on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wave and certain sections in media, especially Delhi – Noida centric obviously for other considerations hyped the Samajwadi – Congress alliance. Most of the media houses blessed by Samajwadi Party had land allotted to them at cheap prices in Noida and Lucknow and most of them literally campaigned by publishing typical paid news for facilitating victory of Akhilesh Yadav, ignoring the basic fact that his party was literally split after founder and father Mulayam Singh Yadav had abandoned the electoral fray. The paid media ignored the surge of BJP wave across the state and like Cheer Girls jumped for Akhilesh.

A sobering moment for Political parties too as they should realize that with the advent of Social Media, the electorate is well informed of the slant being published in print and television medium. Will the parties now realize that they have to earn the respect of the people they serve?