'Check facts': Congress after Abdullah says stop 'complaining about EVMs'
Congress MP Manickam Tagore has hit back at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah after the latter slammed the grand old party's flip-flop on electronic voting machines (EVMs). In an explosive interview with PTI, Abdullah said that the Congress should stop blaming EVMs for the election results and accept the defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra, where the party had raised concerns over EVM reliability.
Congress MP Tagore responds to Abdullah's criticism
Responding to the remarks, Tagore claimed it was other parties like the Samajwadi Party, NCP (SP), and Shiv Sena (UBT) that had spoken against EVMs. "Please check your facts. The Congress CWC (Congress Working Committee) resolution clearly addresses the ECI only," he tweeted. Tagore also questioned why Abdullah's approach has changed after becoming CM. Both the Congress and Abdullah's National Conference are members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc. The parties had fought the assembly elections together.
Abdullah criticizes Congress's inconsistent stance on EVMs
"When you get 100 plus MPs using the same EVMs, and you celebrate that as a sort of victory for your party, you can't then...turn around and say...we don't like these EVMs because now the election results aren't going the way we would like them to," Abdullah said in the interview. He said parties shouldn't blame EVMs only when they lose elections.
'Don't trust EVMs, don't fight elections': Abdullah
Abdullah further said if parties don't trust EVMs, they should not contest elections. He mentioned his own experience of losing in Lok Sabha elections without blaming the machines. "How can you have problems with the EVMs and then continue to fight elections... You can't say that if I win, I am going to keep quiet and if I lose, then something is wrong with the machines," he added.
