AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slams Congress for blaming EVMs after Haryana poll disaster

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has called out Congress for blaming EVMs (Electronic Voting Machine) after the party was soundly defeated in the Haryana Assembly election. Owaisi said Congress should have taken advantage of anti-incumbency to defeat BJP but instead, the party leaders were now deflecting by blaming EVMs. 

BJP secured a third consecutive tenure in Haryana on Tuesday (Oct 8) by winning 48 seats, despite Congress and most exit polls claiming that the saffron party was in for a rout. 

“It is very easy to blame EVMs. You win due to EVMs and when you lose, then it is wrong. My opinion is that the BJP should have lost this state. There were many factors which were going against them,” said Owaisi. 

“Congress should have taken advantage of the 10 years of anti-incumbency, but it seems that due to their internal differences, the BJP benefited. If you give the BJP even a little opening in an electoral battle, they will capitalise on it,” he added.

“After the 2024 Parliament elections, I had said that those claiming BJP’s success is driven by hatred were wrong. I had said at that time as well, it’s not the case. So, who is responsible for BJP’s success? You (Congress) are the main opposition and had a golden opportunity to defeat the BJP, but you failed to do so,” he added.

After early positive trends on Tuesday turned into a disaster by afternoon, Congress started blaming the Election Commission of India (ECI) and its EVMs for the result. 

Addressing the media, Congress General Secretary and Communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh doubled down on the allegations and accused the BJP of subverting people’s will. 

“All afternoon, I’ve been in touch with the Election Commission. The Election Commission has replied to my complaint, I’ve replied to the reply. We’ve received very serious complaints on the process of counting, the functioning of EVMs in at least three districts. We’ve spoken to our senior colleagues in Haryana. This information is being collected, and we hope to present this in a consolidated form to the Election Commission.”

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also raked up the issue and said his party was analysing the issue. 

“We are analysing the unexpected results of Haryana. We will inform the Election Commission about the complaints coming from many assembly constituencies.”

Meanwhile, ECI in a strongly-worded statement said it unequivocally rejected Congress’ “attempt to surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives”.

(With inputs from agencies)