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Beaten soundly in Madhya Pradesh, Nath questions verdict
Kamal Nath on Tuesday alleged anomalies in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the November 17 polls.
Days after the Congress faced a crushing defeat in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, party’s state unit president Kamal Nath on Tuesday alleged anomalies in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the November 17 polls.
Nath, who chaired a review meeting of Congress candidates for poor performance in the recently concluded polls, claimed that at least 100 EVMs were found charged up to 99% at the time of counting. “How can the machines be charged 99% if they have been used for voting for 10 hours?” he asked.
The former chief minister alleged that most votes from those 100 EVMs went to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which swept the Madhya Pradesh polls, winning 163 of the 230 assembly seats. The Congress came a distant second with 66 seats.
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Nath further alleged there were instances where party candidates did not get even 50 votes from their own villages. “How is this possible? EVMs were tampered to help the BJP,” he claimed.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, too, questioned the accuracy of EVMs. “We pressed the (EVM) button and did not know where the vote had gone. Now when VVPAT comes, it is shown for 7 seconds. The basic thing is that the machine in which the chip is installed can be hacked,” the Rajya Sabha MP alleged.
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State’s chief electoral officer Anupam Rajan refused to comment on the issue.
The BJP, however, said the senior Congress leaders were trying to save their face by blaming the EVMs.
“To save themselves from any action, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh are now accusing EVMs for the loss. They should accept that they failed to get public mandate because of their anti-national thoughts and lies,” BJP media in-charge Ashish Agrawal said.
