Kharge on Tuesday made a plea for a return to ballot paper in place of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). He urged the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi to lead a campaign similar to his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' to create awareness about the need to return to the ballot paper.

Krishnam, the former Congress leader, in his post (in Hindi ) on X, said, "The result will also be the same, Lord. Congratulations on Stupidity."

The Congress in February expelled Acharya Pramod Krishnam for 'anti-party remarks', the party had said in an official statement.

Kharge made the remarks during an address at the 'Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan' programme by the Congress on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution.

He said, "We should all unite and move forward together and push them aside. I do not wish to speak about elections, but I would surely say the votes of all the poor and oppressed communities are going to waste. They should all demand voting by ballot paper."

Kharge's comments came on a day the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking a return to the ballot paper.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a PIL seeking directions to the Election Commission of India to introduce ballot papers in place of EVMs. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale rejected the prayer to return to the ballot system due to the alleged manipulability of EVMs.

“When you lose, EVMs are tampered with; when you win, EVMs are fine,” remarked the apex court, when the petitioner referred to the statements made by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his predecessor Jagan Mohan Reddy on EVMs. It said, “When Chandrababu Naidu or Mr Reddy lost, they say that EVMs can be tampered with; when they win, they don't say anything. We are dismissing this. This is not the place where you argue all of this.”

Earlier in March, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a similar PIL seeking directions to conduct the Lok Sabha polls through ballot paper. “How many petitions shall we entertain? We cannot go by assumptions. Every method has its plus and minus points. We cannot entertain this,” it told the petitioner, the General Secretary of the Congress' Mathura District Committee.

Kharge's statement comes at a time when the party received a huge drubbing in the Maharashtra Assembly polls. Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)’s historic debacle in the elections has sparked widespread debate about whether Congress is becoming a ‘liability’ for its smaller and regional allies in states. Many voices from within the Opposition have added weight to this theory.