New Delhi, Jun 27 (IANS): Amid the Opposition's concerns over Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday said that EVMs have passed every test, from the Supreme Court to the people's court, in the last few decades.

Addressing the joint session of Parliament, President Murmu said, "Today, the whole world respects us as the ‘Mother of Democracy’. The people of India have always demonstrated complete trust in democracy and expressed full faith in electoral institutions."

She stressed the need to preserve and protect this trust to sustain a robust democracy.

The President said, "Hurting the faith of people in democratic institutions and the electoral process is like cutting the very branch on which we all are sitting."

She said that "we should collectively denounce every attempt to undermine the credibility of our democracy.”

"We all remember those times when ballot papers were snatched and looted," she said.

To ensure the sanctity of the electoral process, it was decided to use EVMs which have passed all tests, the President asserted.

The President was referring to the Supreme Court's judgment rejecting the demand for reverting to the old system of paper ballots.