New Delhi [India], November 25 : Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said on Monday that he has been participating in elections since 2004 and he "personally," has not seen any evidence of EVM tampering or manipulation.
Chidambaram told ANI, "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."
He further said that he is aware of the difference in his opinion and other members of his party, but such allegations of manipulation should be proven by scientific data.
"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, it's really for them to explain it," he added.
Saying that he believes in the robustness of EVMs, he pointed out that the parties have both won and lost elections on EVMs themselves.
"If others have any kind of doubt about the efficacy of EVMs, it is really for them to say. But I personally have no doubt about the robustness of the efficacy of EVMs. Because we win elections in EVMs, we lose elections in EVMs," he said.
Karti Chidambaram also demanded a Joint Parliament Committee probe into the Adani allegations, saying that the speaker of Lok Sabha, Om Birla might never allow an adjournment motion on it.
"My experience from the last Lok Sabha is that the Speaker, who continues to hold the post, will never allow an adjournment motion. The Adani issue definitely requires a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe," he told ANI.
Earlier, Veteran Congress Leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijay Singh raised concerned over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s victory in recent Maharashtra assembly election and alleged that the latter won the election by manipulating Targeted Polling Booths through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
"The results of the Maharashtra elections appeared whatever the BJP wanted. They fielded 148 candidates out of which 132 won, having a success strike rate of 89 per cent. If they (BJP) want, they can form a government even without SS (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar). BJP has won this election by manipulating Targeted Polling Booths through EVM," the Congress leader said in a post on X on Monday.
However, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule part of the MVA alliance in Maharashtra, said that there was need of evidence to prove the EVM manipulation and that she would discuss the issue with Congress.
"I will speak with Congress. I am going to the INDIA alliance meeting now. We need some evidence for all this. We are working on it; we will do it," NCP SP Supriya Sule told ANI. Sule was in Delhi for the first winter session of Parliament.