With the Trinamool Congress backing J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in rejecting Congress’s assertions over the voting method’s dependability, electronic voting machines (EVMs) have become as the most recent source of contention within the INDIA alliance. In a jab at the Congress, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee stated that those who are challenging the EVMs have to show how they may be “hacked.”
“I believe those questioning the EVM should go to the Election Commission and show proof if they have any. If proper checks are done during EVM randomisation, mock polls, and counting, I don’t think these allegations hold any substance. If someone still believes the EVM can be hacked, they should demonstrate it to the Election Commission,” Abhishek, who is the nephew of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
Relationships between the two INDIA bloc allies had been tense over a number of topics at the time of the Trinamool’s jab at the Congress. The Trinamool has refrained from participating in the Gautam Adani bribery case rallies in Parliament, which are spearheaded by the Congress. The division has further widened as a result of a leadership battle in the opposition camp with Mamata Banerjee’s declaration of interest in heading the INDIA alliance.
Saying that the machines “cannot be a problem only when you lose elections” was a jab at the Congress that set the cat among the birds. The National Conference of Abdullah is affiliated with the Congress in J&K and is a member of the INDIA group.
“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, 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,” Abdullah said in an interview.
The Congress swiftly retaliated against Abdullah, claiming that the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), and Samajwadi Party were the ones who had opposed EVMs.
“Please check your facts. The Congress CWC (Congress Working Committee) resolution clearly addresses the ECI only. Why this approach to our partners after being Chief Minister?” Congress MP Manickam Tagore tweeted.
Using Abdullah and Banerjee’s comments to attack Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, the BJP had a field day. According to Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s IT Cell, the comments show that the Congress’ “isolation is complete”.
“After Omar Abdullah, if even West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, who brazenly steals election in Diamond Harbour, using police and state machinery, claims that EVMs can’t be manipulated, then the Congress and Rahul Gandhi are in serious trouble. Their isolation is complete,” Malviya tweeted.
The Congress should realise that blaming EVMs will not help it win elections, according to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi. “The Congress should understand when INDIA bloc members are saying it… Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav are also saying this… you cannot only blame the EVM,” Joshi stated.
Sambit Patra, a BJP MP from Puri, used the matter to criticise Rahul Gandhi’s leadership abilities. “Being a leader is neither required nor earned. You must possess the attributes of a leader. He said, “You can’t force yourself.” Even Congress’s allies, according to Patra, are aware of the Gandhi family’s and the opposition party’s past.
