"Can't Say You Don't Like EVMs Because...": Ally Junks Congress' Charge

At a time when Congress and its allies have raised questions on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and demanded a return to ballot voting, INDIA alliance member National Conference has said one has to be "consistent" in questioning the voting method.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, also the vice-president of Congress ally National Conference, told news agency PTI in an interview that it is wrong to question EVMs only when results don't meet expectations.

"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 aren't going the way we would like them to," Mr Abdullah said. When he was told that his remarks echoed the BJP's counter to the Congress's EVM charge, Mr Abdullah said, "God forbid... No, it's just that... what's right is right."

"If you have problems with the EVMs, then you should be consistent in those problems," he said, adding that parties should not contest polls if they do not trust the voting method.

Citing his example of losing in the Lok Sabha election and scoring a big win in the Assembly polls months later, he said, "One day voters choose you, the next day they don't. I never blamed the machines."

In the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls this year, -- the first after the Centre revoked its special status and turned it into a Union Territory -- the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference posted a stellar show by winning 48 seats in the 95-member Assembly. The Congress, which fought the polls in alliance with National Conference, won six seats.

Mr Abdullah said he spoke on principles instead of partisan loyalty. In another remark at odds with the Congress line, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister praised the Narendra Modi government for infrastructure projects like the Central Vista.

"Contrary to what everybody else believes, I think that what's happening with this Central Vista project in Delhi is a damn good thing. I believe constructing a new Parliament building was an excellent idea. We needed a new Parliament building. The old one had outlived its utility," he said.

Mr Abdullah's remarks come amid the protest by the Congress and some of its allies against the EVM voting method after its big losses in Haryana and Maharashtra. The BJP has trashed the allegations and pointed to the Opposition's win in Jharkhand, which voted along with Maharashtra.

The National Conference leader's statements also come amid rumblings within the INDIA Opposition bloc, with the Trinamool Congress demanding a change at the top and naming its chief Mamata Banerjee as leader of the alliance.

On a question regarding this issue, Mr Abdullah acknowledged that there is disquiet among some INDIA partners as they felt Congress was not doing enough to earn the bloc's leadership.

"By virtue of being the single largest party in Parliament, and also having the leader of opposition in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the fact that they have a pan-India footprint, which no other party can lay claim to, they are natural sort of leaders of an opposition movement," he said.

"Yet there is a sense of disquiet among some of the allies because they feel the Congress is "not doing enough to justify it or to earn it or to keep it. That's something the Congress might wish to consider." Mr Abdullah praised former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and said described her as a leader of unparalleled stature within the Opposition. "When the INDIA bloc comes together, she plays an important leadership role," he added.