Acknowledging the verdict of the voters who brought the Congress down to 11 seats in the Vidhan Sabha 2017 election, the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay said that this Assembly election had also been marked by the use of considerable money-power by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The outgoing Chief Minister Harish Rawat too accepted the Assembly election results and the responsibility for the party’s position while also eliciting focus on the allegation leveled by Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati about the electronic voting machines having been managed in favour of the BJP. The PCC president and outgoing Chief Minister said this while addressing the media at the Congress Bhawan.
Addressing a Press conference on Sunday, a day after its debacle in the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha elections, the outgoing chief minister Harish Rawat said that the BSP leader Mayawati, who is also a senior politician of the nation, has cast doubt over the functioning of the the EVMs and the matter needs to be investigated. It is in the interest of a democracy that transparency is maintained in the voting system in the country, said Rawat. Stating that he had led the party in the Vidhan Sabha elections, Rawat took upon himself the moral responsibility for the party’s debacle in the Assembly polls. He also favoured the formation a social alliance in the state involving like-minded public representatives and other public figures. Stating that the voters of Uttarakhand had given Congress the mandate to sit in the opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, the outgoing chief minister averred that respecting the public decision, the Congress will aim to play the role of a proactive opposition in the Vidhan Sabha.
Senior party leader and the party’s winning candidate from Chakrata Assembly constituency, Pritam Singh was also among those present at the Press conference along with the outgoing CM and PCC chief.