Patidar leader Hardik Patel on Friday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party may try to defame him with a fake sex CD, The Times of India reported.
“The BJP has prepared a doctored sex CD to defame me and it will be released just before the election,” Patel was quoted as saying. “What else can one expect from the BJP? So just wait, watch and enjoy.” This is typical of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he added.
The state party president, Jitu Vaghani, however, refused to comment. Gujarat goes to polls on December 9 and December 14.
The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti convenor also said that he has no immediate plans to join politics, according to DNA. “I have repeated this several times in the past that for the next two-and-a-half years, I have to plan to enter politics,” he said in Surat. “I just want to talk about the people, and work as an agent of the people.”
Voting machines defective: Patel
Patel also alleged that nearly 3,500 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail systems had failed the first-level testing of the Election Commission. Defective Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail systems might be used in the Gujarat elections, he said. “I am sure that the BJP will contest the polls using illicit means,” Hardik added.
Election Commissioner OP Rawat said that the normal failure rate during the first-level check of the machines is 3-4%. “With a total of 70,000 VVPAT-enabled EVMs deployed by the Election Commission for the Gujarat elections, this translates to a failure rate of 5%,” Rawat told The Times of India. “The slightly higher failure rate may be explained by first-time handling of the VVPAT-enabled EVMs by the staff.”
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been trying to gain the support of the Patel community ahead of the upcoming Assembly election in Gujarat.
On November 2, Patel had said that he had asked members of his community to vote the Bharatiya Janata Party out of power in Gujarat in the upcoming Assembly elections, which indicated his support for the Congress. However, he has not yet announced it officially.
On October 28, Patel had warned the Congress to make its stand clear on reservation for the Patidar community, or face protests. The Congress, on October 21, had invited Patel to join hands to fight against the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections. Patel had said he was ready to support the Congress if his community’s demand for reservations in jobs and education were met.
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