Siddaramaiah expresses happiness over victory in bypolls, says EVMs not tampered in Karnataka

Expressing happiness over the recent victory in the state bypolls, Karnataka Chief Minister K. Siddaramaiah on Thursday defended his government from the ongoing Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) controversy in the country and said the voting machines were not tampered in these two by-polls.

"The EVMs are not tampered. Congress is questioning this because there is scope for the tampering. Here in Karnataka in these two by-elections the EVMs are not tampered," said Siddaramaiah.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra also expressed happiness over the recent victory in the state and thanked the voters for their support.

"We are extremely happy with the results of two by-elections. I want to thank the voters of two constituencies. Who stood with the Congress party, they supported the Congress party, ultimately made us to win the elections," Jayachandra told ANI.

Earlier in the day, out of the nine assembly by-polls held in the five states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday registered victory at four places including Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam.

However, down south in Karnataka, Congress' MC Mohan Kumari won the Gundlupet assembly by-poll with a margin of 10,877 votes.

Meanwhile, the opposition on Wednesday met President Pranab Mukherjee raising concern over the tampering of the EVMs.

The Election Commission yesterday issued a challenge to all political parties to prove that the EVMs can be tampered with. This came after the Congress, Left, AAP and others claimed that the EVMs were tampered with to favour the BJP.