Karti Chidambaram, Congress MP from Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga constituency, on Monday dismissed allegations made by party members regarding EVMs, saying he had never had any bad experience with them.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Karti said, "I have been participating in elections using EVMs since 2004. I have personally had no bad experience. Nor do I have any evidence to prove that there has been any kind of manipulation or tampering. If others have any doubt about the efficacy of EVMs, it is for them to say. But I personally have no doubt about the robustness and efficacy of EVMs."
"Because we win elections with EVMs, we lose elections with EVMs. Unless someone actually proves with scientific data that there has been manipulation, I am not willing to change my view. I know that many in my party have a different point of view, but it's really for them to explain," he added.
This is not the first time Karti has defended the use of EVMs in Indian elections. In 2020, in a social media post, he had called the EVM system "robust, accurate, and dependable."
He had then said, "This has always been my view. I stand by it. There have been doubters of the EVM from across political parties, particularly when the results don't go in their favour. Till now, no one has demonstrated their claims scientifically."
Notably, after the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi's defeat in the Maharashtra elections, Congress MP Chamala Kiran Kumar alleged that the BJP won in Maharashtra and Haryana through manipulation and misuse of EVMs.
"Congress always wants to tell the people of the country that whenever BJP wins, whether it is in Haryana or today in Maharashtra, BJP has a habit of coming to power by any means... Even in Haryana, we got results that we did not expect, and even in Maharashtra... Our leaders are suspicious of the election process... It is difficult to understand what is happening with our democracy and EVMs," he said.
