The debate over the reliability (or non-reliability) of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) has reemerged with Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah raising the issue thereby bringing to the fore the disagreement within the leaders of the INDIA bloc over the issue.
In an interview to news agency PTI, Omar Abdullah dismissed Congress party's allegations that EVMs were tampered with and asserted that he has never blamed the EVMs for election outcomes.
Abdullah said that parties should not contest elections if they do not trust the EVMs.
"If you have problems with the EVMs, then you should be consistent in those problems."
"When you get a hundred plus members of Parliament using the same EVMs, and you celebrate that as 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 arent' going the way we would like them to."
On Monday, Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee joined the debate that if anyone has any evidence of EVM tampering, they should approach the Election Commission.
"People who raise questions on EVM, if they have anything then they should go and show a demo to the Election Commission," the TMC MP was quoted as saying by a report.
Reacting to Abdullah's comments, Congress MP Manickam Tagore asked the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister to check his facts.
"It’s the Samajwadi Party, NCP, and Shiv Sena UBT that have spoken against 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?" Manickam Tagore tweeted.
"It's the Samajwadi Party, NCP, and Shiv Sena UBT that have spoken against EVMs. Please check your facts, CM @OmarAbdullah. The Congress CWC resolution clearly addresses the ECI only. Why this approach to our partners after being CM?" asked Tagore.