Striking a different chord from his party's stance, senior Congress leader Karti Chidambaram on Tuesday said that whatever be the outcome of the Bihar Assembly elections, it is time to stop questioning the reliability of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). In a tweet shared this evening, Kari who is a Lok Sabha MP from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu, said that questions are raised over EVMs by political parties when the results don’t go in their favour.
“Whatever be the outcome of any election, it’s time to stop blaming the EVM. In my experience, the EVM system is robust, accurate and dependable,” Karti, son of former Union minister P Chidambaram, said.
"EVM system is robust, accurate & dependable. This has always been my view. I stand by it," he said, adding that "till now no has demonstrated scientifically their claims".
The Congress is a constituent of the RJD-led Grand Alliance in Bihar. The party contested on 70 seats, but is leading on just 20 seats. In 2015, the grand old party had won 27 seats, its best performance in decades.
Karti's remark comes in the backdrop of Congress leader Udit Raj questioning the realibility of the EVMs. He said, "If the direction of satellites to Mars and Moon can be controlled from the earth, then why can't EVM be hacked," Udit Raj said in a tweet in Hindi. "If elections were held in America with EVMs, could Trump have lost."
Pushpam Priya Choudhary, who heads the Plurals Party, also alleged EVM tampering as she scored a distant tenth in Bankipore with nearly 2,000 votes. "EVM HACKED IN BIHAR!" the 28-year-old UK-return woman tweeted.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission has asserted that the machines are "absolutely robust and tamper-free". Responding to a question on doubts being raised by some politicians, Deputy Election Commissioner in-charge of EVMs Sudip Jain told reporters here that the machines are absolutely robust and tamper-proof.
"It has been clarified time and again that EVMs are absolutely robust and tamper-proof. Even the Supreme Court has upheld their integrity more than once," he said.
Jain recalled that in 2017, the commission had offered an "EVM challenge" to political parties. "The integrity of EVMs is absolutely without any doubts and merits no other clarification," he said.
