Why change in approach towards partners after becoming CM?: Congress MP Manickam Tagore asks Omar Abdullah on EVMs

New Delhi: Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Monday hit out at Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his remarks on EVMs, asking why he had changed his approach towards I.N.D.I.A. bloc partners after becoming the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister.

He said parties such as the Samajwadi Party (SP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Shiv Sena (UBT) have also spoken against electronic voting machines (EVMs).

In an exclusive interview with PTI, the NC leader dismissed the objections to EVMs, saying it cannot be that the Congress celebrates its win in polls held through the machines and then raises questions on their reliability when it loses.

Reacting to his remarks, Tagore said, "It's the Samajwadi Party, NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT) that have spoken against EVMs. Please check your facts, CM Omar Abdullah."

"The Congress CWC resolution clearly addresses the ECI only. Why this approach to our partners after being CM?" he said.

Abdullah had said, "When you get hundred-plus members of Parliament using the same EVMs and you celebrate that as sort of a victory for your party, you can't then a few months later turn around and say... we don't like these EVMs because now the election results aren't going the way we would like them to."