Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule has said she will not blame the electronic voting machines as she has been elected for four terms because of the same machines.
Sule's NCP-SP is part of the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition comprising the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT).
"I have been elected on the same machine, so I will not question the EVMs or VVPATs," Sule, the four-term Lok Sabha member from Baramati in Maharashtra and the working president of the NCP-SP, said in the Lok Sabha during the debate on election reforms.
"I am not speaking against the machine. I am making a very limited point, and with great expectations from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has got such a big mandate in Maharashtra," Sule said.
Earlier in the day, another INDIA bloc ally and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah distanced himself from the "vote chori" issue raised by the Congress and said the "INDIA bloc has got nothing to do with it".
His remarks came a day after top Congress leaders attacked the BJP and the election commissioners at a 'Vote Chor Gaddi Chhod' rally in the national capital, alleging that "vote chori" is in the ruling party's DNA and its leaders were "gaddar" who were conspiring to take away voting rights of people and should be removed from power.
Abdullah's National Conference is a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc. The Congress is the largest party in the coalition in terms of the number of opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha.
Asked to comment on the issue of "vote chori" and alleged electoral irregularities being highlighted by the Congress, Abdullah said, "The INDIA bloc has got nothing to do with it. Every political party is at liberty to set its own agenda. The Congress has made 'vote chori' and SIR as its main issues. Who are we to tell them otherwise?"
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