- By Kamal Kumar
- Sun, 15 Dec 2024 06:21 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Asserting a different stance from its Congress and its INDIA bloc allies over the use of Electronic Voting Machines in polls, Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir and National Conference chief Omar Abdullah on Sunday said that one has to be 'consistent' in flagging such issues. CM Omar, whose party witnessed a landslide victory in the recently concluded Jammu and Kashmir polls, said that it is wrong to question the EVMs when the results don't meet expectations.
In an interview with the news agency PTI, Abdullah took a jab at ally Congress, highlighting the party's victory dance after the Lok Sabha polls results earlier this year.
"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," Abdullah said.
When Omar was told that his remarks were on the similar lines as BJP, "God forbid... No, it's just that... what's right is right," the NC leader said.
"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.
He underlined the example of his own party as to how it turned around the electoral failure of Lok Sabha polls to astounding success in assembly polls.
"One day voters choose you, the next day they don't. I never blamed the machines," he said.
In this year's Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections—the first since its special status was revoked and it became a Union Territory—the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference delivered an impressive performance, securing 48 seats in the 95-member Assembly. Its ally, the Congress, managed to win six seats.
