Evm: Dangers Of Trusting Them Too Much

[Guest]

AIADMK's imperious chief Jayalalithaa doesn't quite know what to make of the explanation her nominee for P Chidambaram's Sivaganga seat, Raja Kannappan, offered after his narrow defeat in the elections. Kannappan was leading from the beginning and with each round of counting, he increased his margin. Later, he was to tell Jayalalithaa that by the afternoon, when he had piled up a handsome lead of some 20,000 votes over Chidambaram and there were just a handful of EVMs left to count, he decided he could afford to take it easy. A dispirited Chidambaram and his son-cum-election manager had left the counting centre. Kannappan too decided to slip away and go to his wife's Samadhi for thanksgiving. He was gone for two hours, long enough for the picture to alter completely. By the time he returned, Chidambaram had already demanded and got a recount and was declared winner by a little over 3,000 votes. He was taken to a room at the back and handed his victory certificate, after which he quietly drove away without meeting the large crowd of reporters and Congress supporters waiting outside. It will remain a mystery why Kannappan chose to disappear at a crucial point in the counting when he was just a few EVMs away from victory. AIADMK circles smell something fishy but after such a comprehensive defeat in Tamil Nadu, even Jayalalithaa doesn't seem to have the heart for a confrontation with either Chidambaram or his friend-in-arms, M K Alagiri, who is the DMK's rising star in south TN.