BHOPAL: Continuing to allege irregularities in the electronic voting machine (EVM) based electoral system in the country, Congress MP and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh said on Friday, “the day those involved in foul play are caught, they will be hanged for treason.”
“There is a public debate across the country about something wrong with the electoral mandate achieved through the EVM based system of polling. There are many questions cropping up about the EVMs, but neither the ECI nor the government has any replies. Their (BJP’s) excessive confidence about future electoral success fuels suspicions about the EVM based system. In 2014 they said they’ll get 272-plus seats and actually got 284. In 2019, their slogan was 300-plus and they got 303, now their slogan is 400-plus, this ultra-confidence raises more suspicions,” Singh told journalists in Bhopal.
Adding in the same vein, Singh said “I’m warning those involved in the foul play with the EVMs that they will get caught one day, we’re very close to it. The day they are caught, they will be hanged for treason.”
While condemning the Narendra Modi-led government for arrest of elected opposition leaders, including CMs of states in one or the other case, Singh said the main fault that leaders like Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren have committed is that they’ve decided to fight against the BJP under the INDIA-bloc banner, despite all pressures by the Narendra Modi-led government.
“People compare the emergency of the 1970s with what is happening now. That emergency (in the 1970s) was imposed under an Act which means under a law. But this emergency now is unconstitutional, which is happening through the ED, CBI and the Income Tax Department.”
Singh also reiterated the points raised by Congress national leadership on Thursday, about the freezing of the party’s accounts by the I-T Department in old matters dating to the time when Sitaram Kesari and Motilal Vora were the party’s national treasurers. “Even the money which we raised through crowdfunding in the last few weeks remains frozen now.”
Ready to contest LS polls from anywhere in the country
Currently, a member of the Rajya Sabha, when queried about where he’ll contest the LS polls, Singh said, “I’m a disciplined worker of the party. I’m ready to contest the LS polls from wherever my party wants me to in the country.”
Importantly, as per key sources within the Congress, Singh is likely to be fielded from Rajgarh seat, which also houses his home assembly seat Raghogarh that has been won by ex-MP minister son Jaivardhan Singh since the last three terms.
BJP has already named its second-time sitting MP Rodmal Nagar as the candidate from Rajgarh LS seat. If Singh is fielded from Rajgarh, he would contest the seat (he won in 1984 and 1991) after 33 years. His last LS poll contest happened in Bhopal in 2019, when BJP’s Pragya Singh Thakur defeated him by a massive 3.64 lakh votes.
Importantly, Singh has been holding meetings of party workers across Rajgarh LS constituency, for the last few months. He left for adjoining Rajgarh only to hold poll-related meetings after meeting the press in Bhopal on Friday.
“The second list for MP is likely by today, as barring 4-5 names, candidates on other seats are decided,” Singh said.
Importantly, the Congress has so far decided candidates on only ten out of the 28 seats it will contest in MP.
