Amethi: AAP alleges booth rigging, posts picture of Rahul near EVM

"The Aam Aadmi Party strongly condemns the ineffectiveness of the Election Commission in preventing booth capturing and rigging in at least 13 polling booths in the Amethi Lok Sabha parliamentary constituency during voting on Wednesday," the party said in a statement.

Posting the picture, it also tweeted: "Where is EC ?"

"The AAP has made public the photographic evidence of Congress candidate Mr Rahul Gandhi himself trying to operate an electronic voting machine (EVM) at a polling booth when the voting was on," the AAP alleged.

The party alleged booth rigging at a number of stations.

"The AAP has found that booth numbers – 34, 37, 38, 108, 109, 110, 111, 187, 195, 203 and 204 were captured by the Congress workers and AAP polling agents were not allowed inside booth numbers 41 and 42, therefore no factual report about these two booths is available," it said.

Condemning the Election Commission (EC),the AAP stated: "Should the Election Commission not take immediate action against the concerned staff who allowed Mr Gandhi to have a free run and make a mockery of the free and fair election ?"

"It is shocking that the Congress party indulged in large-scale rigging in the so-called fiefdom of the Gandhi family. Congress flags were seen at a number of government schools in the constituency, of which many photographs are available," the AAP said in the statement.

"When the media and political parties could see all this, is it possible that the EC observers and local authorities could not see it or had they decided to look the other way to please the political masters who had appointed them ?" it further stated.

The party also alleged that "the  conduct of the local authorities at Amethi and the silence of EC over the large-scale irregularities during voting is an extremely dangerous sign for the democracy."

Earlier in the day, AAP candidate from Amethi, Kumar Vishwas alleged that Congress activists tried to capture booths in the constituency.

"Amethi Vidhansabha Booth No 41, 42 repeated complaints of bogus voting in rounds since 3 hrs," tweeted Vishwas.

"Jagdishpur 4 booths 108, 109, 110, 111 captured by Md Israaq of Congress. Bogus voting in free flow.Will admin interfere fast enough?" he posted on micro-blogging site Twitter.

He alleged Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Amethi RD Ram is not taking any action on the incidents.