ROURKELA: Congress candidate from Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat George Tirkey on Wednesday blamed EVM tampering and internal sabotage for the electoral rout of the party in Odisha.
Talking to media persons, George said Congress suffered badly owing to sabotage and infighting among its workers in the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat and the Assembly segments under it. He said similar reasons were responsible for the party’s poor show in the rest of Odisha.
Without mentioning former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal, George said while one of the senior leader’s daughters contested on a BJD ticket from Sundargarh Parliamentary constituency, the other fought on a Congress ticket from Sundargarh Assembly segment. He said it is for all to see how the prospects of the party were sabotaged.
George said rampant intra-party wrangling was responsible for Congress’ defeat in five Assembly segments of Sundargarh while party candidate from Rajgangpur Assembly segment Dr CS Razen Ekka managed to win somehow with a thin margin.
Alleging EVM tampering to be the reason for his defeat, he said during the Modi wave in 2014, Oram had polled around 3.40 lakh votes. But this time he got more than five lakh votes. Tirkey wondered how Jual, who did not campaign properly and faced all adversities including anti-incumbency increased his votes while his own vote share dipped considerably.
George said he would come up with more details on EVM tempering later and warned of an agitation on the issue. On his son Rohit Tirkey contesting from Biramitrapur Assembly segment which created a negative perception among his core voters leading to the defeat of both of them, he said Rohit was nominated by the Congress on merit. The former Biramitrapur legislator said he would submit a factual report on the party’s performance in the polls.
BJP refutes allegations
Rourkela: The BJP hit back at George Tirkey for blaming EVM tampering for Congress’ rout in the State. In a statement, State BJP secretary Dhiren Senapati said George instead of accepting the people’s mandate is trying to take shelter under the weak and unfounded plea of EVM tampering. He said the Election Commission of India, after successful completion of the election process, had asserted there was no fault in the EVMs used during polls across the country and the Congress too had accepted it. Dhiren said George instead of making a mockery of himself should ascertain the real reasons of his defeat.