They have no real agenda, accepted their defeat: BJP's Poonawalla on Congress' allegations on EVMs

New Delhi: Amid Congress' allegations on Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said on Wednesday that Congress has accepted defeat even before the elections were announced and they have given a "Pre-poll" excuse as well.

Talking to ANI, Poonawalla said, "After the successful conduct of elections in J-K and Haryana where people participated in a large number, now we welcome the announcement of the election dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand. In both the states, BJP-led governments will be formed and having said that Congress party has now started making pre-poll alibis and excuses. First, they used to make post-poll alibis to save Rahul Gandhi from electoral defeat in Haryana. They blamed the EVMs after the election. This time, they started blaming the EVMs even before the first date was announced."

"They are connecting it with a pager which is a connecting device and has a network connection...They have no real agenda. Therefore, they have accepted their defeat even before the election schedule was announced," he added.

He further emphasized that the BJP has done development and welfare in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand, the party will form the government.

Notably, Congress had alleged that varying EVM battery levels across different polling stations in Haryana might have impacted the poll results on October 8 in which the BJP returned to power third time in a row, defying poll predictions. Congress claimed that on EVMs with 99 per cent charge Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won, whereas other machines which had 60 per cent charge Congress won.

Dismissing allegations of 'varying EVM battery levels', Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said Electronic Voting Machines are totally "safe and robust," and have batteries like a calculator, not like a mobile which will be charged everyday.

"People also ask, if pagers can be hacked then why can't EVMs be hacked? Pagers are connected but EVMs are not," he said during a press conference while announcing the poll dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections on Tuesday.

CEC Kumar also explained that EVMs had three-layered security and signatures of political party representatives were taken to ensure transparency.

The assembly elections in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20 and the votes will be counted on November 23.

The key contenders in the Maharashtra elections are the ruling Mahayuti Alliance, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress.

Jharkhand is set to vote in two phases in assembly polls to be held on November 13 and 20 while Maharashtra will go in for a single-phase election on November 20, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.