Omar Abdullah on EVMs: In a new point of contention with an important ally, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah dismissed the Congress party’s strong objections to Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and echoed the BJP’s defence, stating that you can’t accept election results when you win and then blame EVMs when you lose.
Abdullah in an interview with the news agency PTI said, "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."
Told that he sounded suspiciously like a BJP spokesman, Abdullah reacted with “God forbid!” He then added: "No, it's just that... what's right is right."
'Constructing a new Parliament building was an excellent idea'
He said that he speaks based on principles rather than partisan loyalty, highlighting his support for infrastructure projects like the Central Vista as an example of his independent thinking. "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.
Don't contest elections, if they do not trust
The Chief Minister further said that parties should not contest elections if they do not trust the voting mechanism. "If you have problems with the EVMs, then you should be consistent in those problems," he said while replying to a question about whether he thinks that the opposition in general and Congress, in particular, is barking up the wrong tree by focusing on EVMs.
After its losses in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Congress has expressed doubts about the infallibility of EVMs and questioned the election outcome, calling for a return to paper ballots.
Abdullah’s remarks contribute to the National Conference’s dissatisfaction with Congress, which was allied with it during the September Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. NC officials have privately expressed that Congress didn’t fully participate in the campaigning, leaving much of the effort to them. Despite this, the NC secured 42 seats in the 90-member Assembly, while Congress won six.
The Chief Minister emphasised that electoral machines remain the same regardless of the election outcome, and parties should not use them as a convenient excuse for defeat. "One day voters choose you, the next day they don't," he said and gave his own example of facing defeat in Lok Sabha polls while winning a majority in the September assembly polls.
"I never blamed the machines," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
