Congress leader Udit Raj blames EVMs for party's defeat in three state polls

New Delhi: After Congress' defeat in key states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, party leader Udit Raj on Sunday sought to put the blame on electronic voting machines and said such a result was not expected.

"Something must have happened with the EVMs otherwise such a result was not expected," he said in a post in Hindi on X.

"After today's election results, it seems that it is difficult for democracy and the Constitution to survive," the Congress Dalit leader, who was formerly a BJP MP from Delhi.

The remarks of Udit Raj came after NCP leader and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said he won't be surprised if I.N.D.I.A alliance blames EVMs for assembly polls outcome.

"I will not be surprised if people from the I.N.D.I.A alliance start blaming the EVMs for the results," he said, adding it would be like crying foul.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzaad Poonawala said, "Not shocking at all! Congress has started abusing EVMs. So do they deny the result in Telangana? EVM bahana, Rahul ko haar se bachana hai. Shameful."

Pawar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's work is being appreciated by the people.

"When I was in government in the past, my opinion at the time was that tampering with EVMs was impossible. Just one person cannot tamper with the EVMs on such a large scale. You need many people to do it, and when a number of people get involved in such a practice, it would have naturally come out by now,” the NCP leader said.

"If EVMs are to be blamed in these three states (MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh), what about Telangana?" he said.

Another Maharashtra deputy chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis also claimed that the Congress-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance would convene a meeting and blame the EVMs for the poll loss.