EVMs come up for debate, again

The debate on the EVMs raged on in the House during the discussion on the Governor’s address in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha here today.

Congress MLA BB Batra alleged that "money power” had been used in the elections and questions were raised on EVMs.

BJP MLA Ram Kumar Gautam took on the Congress, advising former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to float his own party.

"There are 120 countries where EVMs are not used. Why are elections not held in the country using ballot papers?" Batra asked, saying that it was ironic that with a per capita income of over Rs 3.25 lakh, Haryana's 70 per cent population was below the poverty line.

The Congress alleged that the “free distribution of ration” using this data had helped the BJP win the election.

BJP MLA Ramkumar Gautam said that when he joined the BJP, he had announced that the party would win 50 seats. “There was a contest between the BJP and Hooda, and not the Congress,” he said, resulting in a verbal duel between the MLAs of both sides.

Taking a dig, Hooda urged the Opposition to let Gautam speak since he was in the habit of apologising later. Gautam, too, shot back that Hooda was a good man but was surrounded by the wrong people, leading to protests by the Congress.

The Congress should not be disappointed about the EVMs, he said, adding that, “Hooda saheb, don't cry about EVMs. If the Congress has got 37 seats, it is only because of the exit polls and the 'satta' market. Had it not been for that, the Congress would have fared badly,” he alleged, maintaining that Hooda should float a new party because the Congress would never come to power.

Gautam targeted the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, for repeatedly asking for a caste census, for which BJP leader and minister Anurag Thakur had given him a fitting reply by asking him what his own caste was.

A heated debate followed even as Gautam stated that Article 370 was removed and the Ram Temple was built without a drop of blood being shed.

Later, the issue of EVMs and the working of the ECI came up. Speaker Harvinder Kalyan said that under the rules, the working of an organisation could not be discussed.