Cracks widen in INDIA bloc: Trinamool Congress joins National Conference in questioning Congress' EVM claims

The Congress party has come under fire from allies TMC and NC over its selective criticism of EVMs. (File Photo: PTI)

Amid an ongoing leadership tussle in the INDIA bloc of Opposition parties, the Congress party received back-to-back setbacks earlier this week as allies Trinamool Congress and National Conference questioned the grand old party's claims of faulty Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Both Opposition parties, which also happen to be part of the INDIA grouping, have sought to distance themselves from what they have termed as the Congress' inconsistent stand on the issue of voting machines.

"People who raise questions on EVMs should go and show a demo to EC. If work is done properly at the time of EVM randomisation and people at the booth verify during mock polls and counting, then I don't think there is any substance to these allegations," Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee told reporters on Monday, virtually endorsing the Election Commission's claims on the sanctity of EVMs.

"... Nothing can be done by just making random statements," Banerjee said, adding that if a party or individual believes that EVMs can be hacked should go and demonstrate it to the EC instead.

Banerjee's remarks came close on the heels of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah called out the Congress over the duplicity of its stand on EVMs based on electoral outcomes.

"When you get hundred-plus MPs using the same EVMs and you celebrate that as a sort of a victory for your party, you can't then a few months later 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," Omar said on Sunday.

Omar's remarks on Sunday were promptly countered by Congress MP Manickam Tagore. "Please check your facts, Abdullah. CWC resolution clearly addresses EC only. Why this approach to our partners after becoming CM," he said, pointing out that while the Samajwadi Party, NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) have spoken about the EVMs, the Congress has limited its criticism to the EC.

However, the Congress has questioned the EC's claims that voting machines cannot be rigged on multiple occasions, including its defeat in the Haryana elections, which it is yet to acknowledge. It had then said that it was investigating several claims by its workers and leaders across the state that the "EVMs with 90% battery" gave favourable results to the BJP.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also sought the return to ballot paper voting. "Tab dekhiye kya hota hai (Then see what happens)," she had said.

The back and forth between INDIA bloc partners provided BJP ample ground to target the Congress over its 'selective' criticism.

"Whenever Congress loses polls, instead of introspecting, it blames someone else.. When they form governments in Karnataka and Jharkhand, there is no problem with EVMs, but when they lose Maharashtra, they blame EVMs," he said.