EVM hacking claim a Cong-sponsored conspiracy to defame Indian democracy: BJP
January 22, 2019 16:32
The BJP on Tuesday dubbed allegations of rigging in the 2014 polls, made at a London press conference, a "Congress-sponsored conspiracy" designed to "defame" Indian democracy and its Election Commission.
A day after a self-proclaimed cyber expert alleged at the press event that the BJP had won election by hacking into Electronic Voting Machines, the ruling party launched a stinging attack on the Congress and said it has already started looking for an "alibi" for its certain loss in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that the Indian Journalists' Association, which had organised the conference, is headed by Ashis Ray who, he claimed, is a "committed Congressman" and has been singing paeans in support of Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
He contributes to National Herald, a Congress mouthpiece, "campaigns" for the Congress on social media and has often attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prasad claimed, adding that he had also organised Gandhi's public event in London.
There has been no reaction from Ray to the BJP's comments so far.
Targeting the Congress, Prasad questioned the presence of its leader Kapil Sibal at the event.
"What was Sibal doing there? In what capacity was he present? My charge is that he was there to monitor the event for the Congress. It was a Congress-sponsored conspiracy designed to defame Indian democracy and its Election Commission," Prasad said, also calling it a Congress-scripted exercise.
The BJP leader also dismissed Sibal's claim that he was present in his personal capacity, saying he was intelligent enough to know implications of his being there. He claimed that Sibal went there by deliberate design.
He said the invite for the event had claimed that the hacking of EVMs will be shown but the "gentleman" appeared in the US wearing a mask.
Ridiculing the London event as a circus and political stunt, the BJP leader said he had never heard of Syed Shuja, who claimed to be a cyber expert and made the outlandish and explosive allegations at the press conference, even though he, as Union IT minister, keeps in touch with experts and developments in the field.
Prasad alleged it was a Congress-sponsored conspiracy and asked if opposition parties wanted to revert to the use of ballot papers in elections, alleging that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had used them to rig local polls in the state last year as the government did not use EVMs.
-- PTI
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