An accusation oft repeated during elections is that of EVM tampering. And on Monday, with counting underway for the Jharkhand polls, it was impossible that nobody would bring it up.
Speaking to Times Now, BJP spokesperson and Supreme Court lawyer Gaurav Bhatia said that "we need to find out if the EVMs in the country are working fine".
He later took to Twitter to comment on the video of the conversation, stating that his comment had not been understood properly.
To their credit though, most people on the defeated side have refrained from blaming the machines or even bringing them up.
But Twitter is rather fond of stirring up trouble, even when nothing is afoot. And today many took a dig at those who have previously aired their grievances over electronic voting machines.
BJP leader Shazia Ilmi wrote: "We will not blame the EVMs. We will not curse the EC. We will not abuse the SC. We will accept the verdict. We will work harder!"
One user commented: "So EVMs have suddenly started working fine today! Faith in democracy, judiciary, electoral process, and Constitution restored."
Another user said: "Not a single BJP supporter blamed EVMs for the Jharkhand loss. That's the difference...!"
Tagging a tweet by senior Congress leader P.Chidambaram that said "dented in Haryana, denied in Maharashtra, defeated in Jharkhand. That is the story of the BJP in 2019...", one BJP supporters remarked: "You are now trying to say that EVMs are fine. Suddenly talks about EVMs have vanished."
One post read: "Opposition parties accuse EVMs for their defeat, but when they win, they call it a victory of democracy."
In Jharkhand, the Congress had stitched up a pre-poll alliance where it made way for regional party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to take the lead. While the JMM got to contest 43 seats, the Congress contented itself with 31 seats and the RJD was allotted 7 seats.
"There is no-doubt about it, Hemant Soren will be the CM. We have assured him (Soren) even before we forged the alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)," RPN Singh, Congress in-charge Jharkhand, told the media in Ranchi on Monday.
The Congress has recently formed the government in Maharashtra, as the third member of a three party post-poll alliance in which the Shiv Sena and NCP call the shots. Earlier, in Karnataka too, the Congress had formed government with the Janata Dal (S).
The JMM/Cong/ RJD alliance is set to comfortably cross the halfway mark in the 81-seat Jharkhand Assembly. The five-phase assembly elections in Jharkhand began on November 20 and ended on December 20.
(With inputs from agencies)
