 "Cong blames EVMs, internal sabotage for rout in MP polls at review meeting")
Most of the 164 nominees of Congress who lost the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls last November on Saturday blamed EVMs for the poor show against BJP at a review meeting held here, a leader said.
Some contestants claimed "internal sabotage" was the reason for the drubbing and demanded strict action ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP swept the state assembly elections to retain power by winning 163 seats out of 230, reducing the Congress tally to 66.
About 164 defeated contestants of Congress attended the marathon meeting which lasted for nearly six hours chaired by MP Congress chief Jitu Patwari, one of the candidates who contested unsuccessfully.
Many of them said the "EVM issue" should be raised nationwide and those in the state Congress unit responsible for the sabotage should be dealt with an iron hand if the party wants to put up a good show in the Lok Sabha elections, said the party leader, who had lost the elections, after attending the meeting.
"Majority of the defeated candidates said the battery backup of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) remained 99 per cent in areas where Congress lost elections, while it was 74 per cent in the booths where the party candidates won," he told PTI.
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How can the battery backup of EVMs be 99 per cent given that the elections were held on November 17 and counting of votes took place on December 3, he questioned.
At the meeting, some contestants blamed their defeat on intra-party factionalism and demanded action to fix the issue ahead of the LS polls.
In 2019, the BJP had won 28 parliamentary seats out of 29 in MP.
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