Pushpam Priya alleges EVM hacking in Bihar, says 'BJP rigged election'
Plurals Party chief Pushpam Priya Choudhary has alleged that electronic voting machines (EVM) were "hacked" in Bihar, where counting of votes is still underway for 243 legislative assembly seats. The London-returned new entrant accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of "rigging" the election. She said that votes polled for Plurals Party were transferred to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on all booths. Choudhary contested election from two seats - Bankipore in Patna and Bisfi in Madhubani district.
"EVM hacked in Bihar. See boothwise data, Plurals votes stolen. BJP rigged the election. Plurals votes transferred to NDA on all booths," the party's chief ministerial candidate wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission clarified that EVMs were "robust" and "tamper-proof". "It has been clarified time & again that EVMs are robust & tamper-proof. Supreme Court upheld integrity of EVMs more than once. EC had also offered EVM challenge in 2017. Integrity of EVMs is without any doubt & merits no further clarification," Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain said today.
Less votes than NOTA
The 28-year-old has suffered a blow as she trailed from both the assembly seats she contested from. On the Bisfi seat, she had managed to bag less votes than None of the Above (NOTA) option.
Priya had managed just 121 votes coming in third position on the Bankipur assembly seat when reports last came in while three-time BJP MLA Nitin Naveen was leading with 2,385 votes followed by Congress candidate Luv Sinha, son of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who had received 1,097 votes. At present, 3,860 votes have been counted on this seat till now.
From the Bisfi seat, Pushpam had managed just 49 votes when reports last came in. From this seat BJP candidate Haribhushan Thakur is leading with 5,541 votes while RJD MLA Dr. Fayaz Ahmad had got 3,383 votes according to counting trends. Pushpam Priya has bagged less than NOTA votes from this seat. Nearly 181 votes have been cast as NOTA as per the current poll results . At present, 9,802 votes have been counted on this seat.
Choudhary had promised to turn Bihar into Europe by 2030. Her father Vinod Chaudhary is considered close to JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar. Her uncle Vinay Chaudhary is also contesting the Bihar elections.
