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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday launched a scathing attack at the opposition leaders, accusing them of attempting to shift blame for their electoral defeats onto the Electronic Voting machine (EVMs).
Addressing the media, Adityanath asserted, "The people who are rejecting EVMs today are the same people who used to loot ballots." He targeted Congress, the Samajwadi Party, and other members of the INDIA block, accusing them of historically resorting to fraudulent practices during elections. "Whenever Congress, Samajwadi Party or any other party associated with the INDI alliance is losing elections, they make every effort to blame the defeat on EVMs. This is not the first time, we have been hearing this continuously since 2014". Further, coming down heavily on the Opposition, CM Yogi said that they should answer whether the victory secured by opposition parties during recent times was through ballot paper or EVM voting. He criticized the Opposition for doubting the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), accusing them of attempting to "mislead" the nation. "We want to ask these people that the Congress government formed in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka last year, whether it was formed based on ballot paper? In 2009, the UPA government was formed at the Centre, was it made of ballot paper? In 2004, the UPA government was formed in the country, and in 2018, the Congress government was formed in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, the AAP government was formed in Delhi, was it made of ballot paper?," CM Yogi said. "All these things make clear that Congress is trying to mislead the country and the people of their allies are also trying to mislead the country. They want to blame their defeat on EVMs, whatever names I took, all these governments were formed using EVMs. In a healthy democracy, every voter has the right to cast his vote," he added. Attacking the opposition, CM Yogi said that the people who are rejecting EVMs today are the same people who used to steal ballots. "When the Election Commission of India has ensured the notification of elections by using technology, they are making malicious attempts to vent their anger on EVMs," CM Yogi remarked. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected petitions seeking 100 per cent verification of votes cast on EVMs with paper slips generated through VVPATs (Voter-verified paper audit trail) In a major decision, the apex court also rejected the plea of petitioners to return to ballot paper voting on April 26. The two-judge bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta delivered a unanimous verdict. (ANI)
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