BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday said she would move court over alleged tampering of EVMs in the recent Assembly polls. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal also took up the issue, saying such tampering had cost his party the election in Punjab.

Kejriwal claimed BJP leader LK Advani had also voiced concern over EVMs prior to the 2014 polls.

The actions of Mayawati and Kejriwal evoked derision from the BJP and its ally, the Akali Dal.

The BJP said there were “some defects” in Mayawati and not in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Kejriwal faced flak from BJP ally Akali Dal whose leader and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal advised the AAP chief to undergo ‘vipassana’ meditation, instead of casting aspersions on the reliability of the voting machines.

The BSP was decimated in the recent Assembly polls in UP where it finished a distant third, winning 19 seats in the 403-member House while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), making a debut in Punjab, bagged 20 seats in the 117-member Assembly. The ruling SAD-BJP combine was trounced in Punjab.

Mayawati said the BSP has decided to observe a ‘black day’ every month against the “murder of democracy” by the BJP and charged that the saffron victory in UP smacked of “dishonesty” and “fraud”.

Kejirwal said EVM tampering may have led to AAP’s poor showing in Punjab, alleging it could be part of a conspiracy to keep the party out of power in the State. The AAP won 20 seats in the 117-member Assembly with a vote share of 24.9 per cent.

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