Opinion: Congratulation on victory but blame for defeat on EVMs! Have you considered the public a fool?

New Delhi : Rahul Gandhi had once said that the real strength of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is his/her Iqbal and one day he/she will end that Iqbal. For this he/she also made a lot of efforts. Be it the campaign of ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ on the Rafale deal or the attack by ‘Modani’ on the Hindenburg Report or the narrative of the government being in the pockets of Ambani-Adani… Rahul Gandhi tried everything possible but did not succeed. Rahul Gandhi may not be able to end Modi’s confession but it seems that his/her party has now engaged in the dangerous game of destroying the credibility of constitutional institutions. By blaming the defeat in Haryana elections on EVMs and attacking the Election Commission, Congress is actually doing the same. Questioning that EVM which has passed the litmus test not once but many times. Has proved to be spotless. Got clean chit from Supreme Court. The Election Commission even gave an open challenge for hacking but no one came forward.If you win then EVMs are fine, if you lose then it is all the fault of EVMs!
Election results of two states came on Tuesday. Jammu-Kashmir and Haryana. Congress-National Conference alliance won in Jammu and Kashmir and BJP in Haryana. But there was a world of difference in Congress’s reaction to both the results. Wherever we win, democracy wins. The public gave a befitting reply to the ‘injustice’ and ‘insult’ towards the state. Various catchy phrases. But where they lost, forget about respecting the mandate, there was arrogance in not accepting it. If you win then EVMs are fine, if you lose then it is all the fault of EVMs.

When the counting for Haryana elections started at 8 am on Tuesday, the initial trends showed that Congress had crossed the majority mark. But after 1-2 hours the trends reversed. BJP went ahead. Once it was ahead, it remained ahead till the final results came. After lagging behind, Congress started raising questions on the Election Commission. First raised the issue of alleged slow updating of counting data. With time, when the trends reached a turning point, Congress started raising questions on EVMs themselves. Instead of accepting the mandate, Congress raised questions on the counting process. Pointed finger at EVM. Started accusing him/her of conspiracy. Jairam Ramesh alleged that at the time of counting of votes, 99 percent battery charge was found in many EVMs. Congress claimed good performance in EVMs whose batteries were 60-70 percent charged. BJP claimed victory where the battery was 99 percent charged. But the Election Commission rejected these allegations outright and said that there is no relation between the capacity of EVM battery and the results.

Crying about EVMs instead of introspection!
Congress chose the easy path of making excuses instead of introspection and review by accepting defeat, but in doing so it is harming the great democratic process and its credibility of the world’s largest democracy. This time the performance of Congress has improved in Haryana. In a state with 90 assembly seats, Congress, which had won 31 seats in 2019, won 37 seats this time. There was a tremendous increase in vote share also. Last time the vote share of Congress was 28 percent, this time it was 39 percent i.e. 11 percent more. But this improvement in performance could not reach power. Instead of reviewing why this happened, the party has started blaming the electoral process itself.

However, Congress or opposition parties are not doing this for the first time. Even before this, parties have been maintaining silence or creating ruckus on EVMs as per their convenience. BJP was the first to raise questions on the reliability of EVMs. Lal Krishna Advani had doubted EVMs after the 2009 defeat. Another BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao had expressed doubt on EVMs by writing a book. But EVM went through the litmus test not once but many times and came out spotless every time. When EVMs and the Election Commission got a clean chit from the country’s biggest court, the ongoing controversy should have ended.

EVM has proved to be spotless in every litmus test.
The Supreme Court has slammed groups like ADR for their attempts to slander the Election Commission and EVMs due to vested interests. In April this year, when the process of Lok Sabha elections was going on, the Supreme Court praised the Election Commission for conducting free and fair elections for the last 70 years and also expressed regret that ‘vested interest groups’ were trying to undermine the country’s achievements. Are doing. The Supreme Court said that EVMs were tested 8 times and they turned out to be spotless every time. Many times the cases regarding EVM reached the High Court and the Supreme Court, but every time its credibility was found beyond doubt. There was never any discrepancy seen in the matching of VVPAT slips and votes recorded in EVMs. Recently, on the orders of the Supreme Court, the votes recorded in EVM and VVPAT were matched in many states. Everything was found correct and the EVM proved to be spotless.

Seven years ago in 2017, the Election Commission had given an open challenge to political parties or any person or organization to show hacking of EVMs. Then only two parties accepted the challenge – NCP and CPM. On the fixed date, leaders of both the parties reached the Election Commission office but did not have the courage to participate in the challenge. Yes, Aam Aadmi Party definitely played a farce inside the Delhi Assembly. A special session of the Assembly was called and Jugaad boxes were shown as allegedly hacked by naming them as EVMs. The party adopted a cheap publicity stunt by using ‘jugaad bins’ instead of genuine EVMs. To prevent the Election Commission from taking action, the cover of a special session of the Assembly was taken.

There will be wins and losses, don’t spread confusion among the public!
Overall, EVMs have gone through the litmus test many times and have proved to be spotless every time. It was used to simplify the election process and curb crimes like booth capturing. During elections using ballot papers, crimes like looting of ballot boxes, pouring ink in them, booth capturing were often reported, but with the advent of EVMs, they have now become a part of the past. Voting through EVMs also gives quick results, otherwise it would take 1-2 days to count the ballot papers and 3-3, 4-4 days for the Lok Sabha elections. The Supreme Court has also rejected the petitions demanding voting through ballot paper. To ensure the purity of EVMs, the votes recorded in the machine are matched with the VVPAT slips. By blaming their defeat on EVMs, the parties will prevent their supporters from losing their enthusiasm or getting disheartened, but by doing so, they are making a malicious attempt to tarnish the credibility of the Election Commission unnecessarily. This game of defaming constitutional institutions is dangerous. Elections will come and go, there will be wins and losses, but the efforts by vested interests to create doubt in the public mind regarding the election process are shameful. Be it Congress or any other party, when will they stop doing this?