Congress’ Veerappa Moily slams his party for joining chorus against EVMs, calls it "defeatist" mindset

Opposition parties, including Congress, have approached the Election Commission expressing their "complete loss of faith" in EVMs.

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily on Tuesday lashed out at his own party for jumping on the bandwagon to oppose Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Arguing that EVMs are beyond doubt, Moily said: “I am a former law minister. During my period, EVMs were introduced. And complaints also came. We got them verified. Then you know, you should not forget the history. Just because you think there is a popular wave against EVMs, we will also catch up with that.”

Opposition parties on Monday approached the Election Commission expressing their "complete loss of faith" in EVMs and demanded the use of VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) and paper ballots in upcoming polls.

A delegation of 13 opposition parties including Congress, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Left parties, among others, met the poll panel following allegations of EVM tampering during the February-March Assembly polls in five states as well as the Sunday by-polls in several states.

When asked if Congress should have joined other opposition parties in approaching the EC, The Times of India quoted Moily as saying, "We shouldn't have. None of us have been consulted... many of us were not consulted."

"EVMs, we know very well. Even during our period (UPA), we got them tested. EVM is not the reason. Just because you are defeated? Only the defeatist people will blame EVMs, otherwise there is no point," Moily said.

The former Union law minister said that "local mistakes" in EVMs are reported but there is a system to address them.

However, he added: "(Talking about) Abusing the technology itself isn't right. It is something I don't subscribe to.”

Moily further called the rant against EVMs as "populism".

"This populism will destroy your base. Congress should not go for populism. Just because somebody in some region took up the issue, I don't think you (Congress) should play second fiddle to them," he said.