Abhishek Banerjee said that making arbitrary allegations about EVMs will not work
New Delhi:
Hot on the heels of National Conference leader Omar Abdullah rejecting the Congress-led charge against Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), another major opposition party has dismissed questions surrounding the machines.
Congress MP and Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has said those doubting EVMs should show how they can be hacked. “The people who are asking questions about the EVM, if they have anything, they should go and show a demo to the Election Commission. “If proper work is being done at the time of EVM randomization and people are working properly in the booths during mock polls and counting, I don't think there is any substance in this allegation,” he said.
“If anyone still feels that EVMs can be hacked, then they should meet the Election Commission and show how EVMs can be hacked… Nothing can be done by just making random statements…,” he said Banerjee, number 2 in Trinamool after party chief Mamata Banerjee.
Union Minister Satish Chandra Dubey said the Trinamool leader has understood the truth, albeit too late. “Two elections were held recently – in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand. The party that won in Jammu and Kashmir is part of the INDIA alliance and no questions were raised about EVMs then. In Jharkhand, the INDIA alliance won, and there were no An alliance cannot sustain itself for long on the basis of a lie. Abhishek Banerjee may have realized this late, but at least he has understood the truth now,” the BJP leader said.
The Congress and several other opposition parties raised questions on EVMs after the poll results in Haryana and Maharashtra. The BJP hit back citing the Jharkhand poll results and said the opposition will raise the EVM issue only if it loses the elections.
But some Congress allies have quashed the offensive against EVMs. Omar Abdullah, National Conference leader and Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has said that one must be “consistent” in questioning the voting method.
“If you get over a hundred MPs using the same EVMs, and you celebrate that as some kind of victory for your party, you can't turn around a few months later and say… we don't like this. EVMs because the election results are now not going as we would like,” Abdullah said. “If you have problems with the EVMs, then you have to be consistent on those problems,” he said, adding that parties should not participate in polls if they do not trust the voting method.
Citing his example of losing in the Lok Sabha elections and months later a landslide victory in the Assembly polls, he said, “One day voters choose you, the next day they don't. I never blamed the machines.”
Congress MP B Manickam Tagore replied why Mr Abdullah took this approach towards Congress partners after becoming Prime Minister. “It is the Samajwadi Party, NCP and Shiv Sena UBT who have spoken out against EVMs. Please check your facts, CM @OmarAbdullah. Congress's CWC resolution clearly concerns only the ECI. Why this approach to our partners after we have been CM?” he asked in a message on X.
Union Minister Satish Chandra Dubey said the Trinamool leader has understood the truth, albeit too late. “Two elections were held recently – in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand. The party that won in Jammu and Kashmir is part of the INDIA alliance and no questions were raised about EVMs then. In Jharkhand, the INDIA alliance won, and there were no An alliance cannot sustain itself for long on the basis of a lie. Abhishek Banerjee may have realized this late, but at least he has understood the truth now,” the BJP leader said.
The Trinamool leader's comments also come against the backdrop of the leadership battle within the INDIA alliance after Mamata Banerjee said she is open to leading the opposition bloc if given an opportunity. Soon after her remarks, veteran opposition leaders Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad Yadav threw their support behind her.