After Moily, now Capt Amarinder from Congress says EVMs cannot be tampered
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh took a different line from his party on the issue of EVM tampering.
In Short
- If EVMs were tampered with, Akalis, not me, would be sitting here: Amarinder Singh
- Congress had won 77 seats out of 117 in the Assembly election
- Opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, met President on Wednesday on EVM issue
After senior Congress leader and former Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily broke ranks with his party on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also seems to have taken a different line.
The chief minister was quoted as saying by NDTV that if EVMs were tampered with, the Congress would not have won the recently held Assembly election in Punjab. "If EVMs were tampered with, Akalis, not me, would be sitting here," Amarinder Singh told NDTV.
The Congress had won 77 seats out of 117 in the Assembly election.
Earlier, just hours before a delegation led by the Congress approached President Pranab Mukherjee on the EVM issue, Moily had said, "Among all the countries, our electoral system is the best and for that, the credit should go to the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) and the Congress. We can have a committee to look into the issues of EVMs, but there is no question of going back to manual methods."
The Congress leader added, "There are some apprehensions in the mind (of some leaders) and they are asking for an upgradation. Such things have happened in the past too. So many testing occurred when I was the Law Minister, but we didn't find anything wrong in it. We can't go back to ballot papers, but if technical upgradation is possible, then it is okay."
As the Congress expressed its displeasure over the remarks, Moily, in an exclusive chat with India Today TV, changed his stand. "Yes, I said all that but this (meeting with President) is also important. The delegation is going to meet President and after that our spokesperson will give his reaction," he said.
COMPLAINS AGAINST EVM
The EVM tampering issue has gained momentum after a video went viral on social media showing the EVM displaying same result even after the officials pressed different buttons, during a demonstration conducted by the Election Commission in Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district.
The Opposition leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, met the President on Wednesday on the EVM issue and to raise their concern over what they dubbed as an "environment of fear and insecurity" in the country, asking him to "protect the constitutional democracy and fundamental rights" of the citizens.
Other political parties including Mayawati's BSP and Arvind Kejriwal's AAP have also been crying foul over the EVM tanpering issue, after their defeat in the recent Assembly elections.