Himachal Congress expresses doubts about long gap between polling, result dates, says no faith in EVMs

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], October 15 : Himachal Pradesh Congress on Saturday expressed doubts about the long gap between the polling and result dates and said their party has no faith in Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).
Addressing a press conference here, All India Congress Committee spokesperson and Himachal Pradesh Media In-charge Alka Lamba said, "We all know that the festival of democracy has started inside Himachal with the announcement of the election dates. Indian National Congress welcomes the dates announced by the Election Commission. Indian National Congress is assuring the Election Commission that the Congress will fully follow every rule and law of the election code of conduct."
The Congress leader said that she expects that the Centre will misuse the government machinery in the middle of elections.
"With that, we also expect that the ruling BJP which is at the Center can still misuse the government machinery in the middle of elections. This is our concern because we have seen that the middle of the election, by misusing the government institutions, especially the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), they come in the middle of what should be a fair election," she added.
She further said that her party expects from the Election Commission that this election will be completely fair.
"On November 12, 68 seats will go to polls in a single phase. Result on 8th December. Time of 25 days has been kept. The counting of votes will be done after 25 days. Thought maybe this is happening because of Gujarat, but came to see last time the announcement of simultaneous elections of all the five states was done," Lamba said.
She also expressed surprise over the delay in the Gujarat elections and questioned the delay in the counting of votes in Himachal Pradesh.
"And this time the election dates of Gujarat were not announced and we are definitely a little surprised about the same thing that when the November 12 vote is being held, the counting process takes place in the next two-three days as always. The reason was not understood that if Gujarat's dates were not announced, then why such a long time was taken for counting," Lamba added.
"But we feel that within Himachal, with the date of these elections, the loot of the exchequer other the Jai Ram Thakur government has been curbed," she further said.
Senior Congress leader and legislator Dhaniram Shandil during a press conference raised doubts about EVMs too and said Congress has no faith in EVM.
Shandil said, "What Alka ji has said is right. When the votes will be cast on 12 November than what will we do till December 8? I would also like to say that we have no faith in EVMs. We also want to keep a special eye on EVMs and I will personally write the letter once again to the Election Commission of India. We want elections to be conducted free and fair. There should be no fraud in the election process."
Shandil said that in the countries which have made it be it Germany, Netherlands, the USA, and Japan everyone has gotten rid of it after using it once
"There can be a lot of rigging in elections. Like I said that people have lost their faith in EVM, so why can't they change it? The countries which have made it be it Germany, Netherlands, USA, and Japan everyone has gotten rid of it after using it once," Shandil further added.
Alka Lamba said that if the Election Commission wants, it can stop that tampering completely.
"EVM is electronic machinery. If you want, it can be tampered with. If the Election Commission wants, it can stop that tampering completely," Lamba added.
Himachal Pradesh will go to polls on November 12 to elect its next government and the results will be declared on December 8, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced.
The ECI did not announce the dates of the Gujarat Assembly polls which were also expected to be held by the end of this year.
The term of the Gujarat Assembly ends on February 18, 2023, while the term of the Himachal House will end on January 8, 2023.
Himachal Pradesh voted to elect its legislative assembly on November 9, 2017.
In the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated the Congress Party and won 44 seats while Congress secured only 21 seats in 2017.