TMC echoes Omar Abdullah, decides not to support ally Congress in EVM row: ’Show evidence to EC’

Trinamool Congress distanced itself from the allied Congress on Monday amid continued debate over ‘EVM tampering’. Senior party leader Abhishek Banerjee urged the party to ‘show evidence to the Election Commission’ rather than ‘making a few statements’. The remarks echo a similar assertion by fellow INDIA bloc leader Omar Abdullah last week.

“This is my personal opinion that those who are raising questions on the EVMs should show a demo of its discrepancies to the EC. They should show any video [as evidence] to the EC. The EC even called everyone,” the senior TMC leader said.

Banerjee stated that allegations of EVM manipulation do not hold true if someone works well during EVM randomisation, even the booth workers verify these ECMs while conducting mock polls.

“I have been conducting elections on-ground for a long time. If someone works well during EVM randomisation and the booth workers check EVMs during mock polls or review the form 17C, which is used to check ballot units or control units, during counting of votes, I don’t think there is anything substantial in these allegations [of EVM manipulation],” Banerjee said.

According to the senior TMC leader, if anybody thinks the EVMS are tampered with, she should raise this concern to the Election Commission (EC). If they fail to do so, they organise a movement over it.

“Even after that, if someone feels that the EVMs can be manipulated, a delegation of them should visit the EC and show a demo or evidence proving that there is some malware or technology to hack EVMs. If they are unable to do that [show evidence], a movement or Andolan should be organised [by them] over the issue. Only making 2-3 statements regarding a matter does not mean anything,” Banerjee added.

On Friday, the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah denied the allegation of its ally, Congress, over objection to using EVMs and said, “if you have problems with the EVMs, then you should be consistent in those problems.”

“You can’t accept election results when you win, and blame EVMs when you lose,” said Abdullah to PTI.