Cong should understand blaming EVMs won't help, says Pralhad Joshi

It cannot be that the Congress celebrates its win in polls held through the machines and then raises questions on their reliability when it loses, Joshi said

The Congress should understand that blaming Electronic Voting Machines will not help as its allies are now speaking about it, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Monday, seizing on Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's rejection of doubts on EVMs.

In an exclusive interview with PTI, the National Conference leader dismissed the objections to EVMs, saying it cannot be that the Congress celebrates its win in polls held through the machines and then raises questions on their reliability when it loses.

Abdullah had said, "When you get 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."  Asked about Abdullah's remarks, Joshi said, "The Congress should understand when INDI alliance members are saying it... Mamata ji, Sharad Pawar ji, Akhilesh ji are also saying this... you cannot only blame EVM."  "The Congress should realise their mistake because we also want a constructive opposition. We don't want the opposition to be weak... The Congress should introspect and improve themselves," Joshi told reporters outside Parliament.

Dinesh Sharma of the BJP said Abdullah "spoke the truth".

"Some day he will also speak the truth on Article 370, how BJP has done a favour to the nation by abrogating it," he said.

"The Congress' allies also know that elections through EVMs are fair. They are happy when they win and complain when they lose. Their drama has been exposed," he told reporters outside Parliament.

JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha said, "We are from Bihar. We have seen how booths were captured and the weaker sections were not allowed to vote. Since the EVMs came, the poor could also vote. The Congress goes around carrying a copy of the Constitution and is demolishing all Constitutional institutions.

However, INDIA bloc constituent the Samajwadi Party's MP Anand Bhadauria said his party has always been against EVMs. "The SP and Akhilesh (Yadav) ji have said we will win 80 seats (from Uttar Pradesh) and remove EVMs. The SP has always been against the EVMs and will continue to oppose it."  The Congress' Lok Sabha MP from Barabanki Tanuj Punia said the party has always maintained that it is against EVMs.

"We are consistent... Even when we win, we have always said EVMs should be done away with. We won more seats in Uttar Pradesh, but we still said it should be done away with," he said. "Several developed nations have rejected EVMs because there is a possibility of manipulation."  "Even if we come to power on EVMs, we will still remove EVMS. It is a threat to democracy," Imran Masood of the Congress said.