New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former law minister Veerappa Moily has come down heavily on his own party men for joining voice against the Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs).His comment came in after Opposition parties on Monday approached the Election Commission expressing their “complete loss of faith” in EVMs and pressed for 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.

Calling the rant against the EVMs as ‘populism’ and that the Congress should not play the second fiddle, Moily said that EVMs are beyond doubt.

“EVMs were introduced during my tenure as law minister. There were complaints which were verified. But, just because there is a popular wave against the EVMs, we should not catch up with it,” said Moily adding that only ‘defeatist people’ will blame the EVMs.
He opined that the Congress must stay away from populism as it can destroy the very base.

“Just because somebody in some region took up the issue, I don’t think you (Congress) should play second fiddle to them,” he said.