New Delhi/Mumbai. A fresh political war of words erupted on Sunday over claims of tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders cited a media report alleging that a relative of the Shiv Sena candidate from the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat had used a mobile phone connected to the EVM during vote counting on June 4.
However, the constituency’s Returning Officer Vandana Suryavanshi dismissed the Mid-Day newspaper’s report as ‘false news’ and said that a defamation notice has been issued to the publication. She stressed that EVMs are an independent system that cannot be ‘programmed’ and cannot be connected to wireless communication.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit out at opposition leaders over the issue and demanded that the Election Commission should prosecute all those who “promoted falsehood” by sharing the news. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and others questioned the credibility of EVMs on Sunday, citing a post by social media platform X chairman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, in which he talked about removing EVMs and claimed that the risk of hacking was “very high”.
Musk had said in his post, “We should stop using EVMs. The risk of being hacked by humans or artificial intelligence (AI), however small, is still too high.” Musk replied to a post by American politician Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying, “We should stop using electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI (artificial intelligence), however small, is still too high.”
Kennedy Jr. had alleged that there were ‘hundreds of voting irregularities related to electronic voting machines’ in the primary elections in Puerto Rico. Congress’s ally Samajwadi Party (SP) president and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also once again questioned the credibility of EVMs and demanded that all upcoming elections be conducted through ballot papers.
Rahul Gandhi said in a post on ‘X’, “EVMs in India are a ‘black box’, and no one is allowed to examine them. Serious concerns are being raised about the transparency of our electoral process. When there is no accountability in institutions, democracy becomes a sham and the possibility of rigging increases.”
He also tagged a media report which claimed that a relative of Shiv Sena candidate Ravindra Waikar had a mobile phone that could ‘unlock’ EVMs. Waikar won the election from Mumbai’s North-West seat by 48 votes.
At the same time, former Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekhar, in response to Musk’s criticism regarding EVMs, said that the billionaire businessman’s approach can also be applied in the US and other places, where they use regular ‘compute platforms’ to create ‘internet-connected voting machines’.
“But Indian EVMs are specially designed, secure and not connected to any network or media – no connectivity, no Bluetooth, WiFi, no internet. Factory-programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed,” Chandrasekhar said in a post on X.
The BJP leader said, “Electronic voting machines can be manufactured exactly the way India has done it. We will be happy to give tutorials, Alan.” Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Aditya Thackeray and Priyanka Chaturvedi also shared the news and demanded that the CCTV footage of the counting day be released.
Chaturvedi posted on ‘X’, “This is fraud at the highest level and yet the Election Commission of India is sleeping. The ‘manipulating’ winner’s relative brought a mobile phone to the counting centre which had the capability to unlock the EVM machine. If ECI does not intervene, this will be the biggest election result scam after Chandigarh Mayor election and will be fought in the courts. This act must be punished.”
The report claimed, ‘The police is investigating how the accused got the phone on which the OTP came and the machine got unlocked.’ Reacting to the report, the election officer of the constituency, Vandana Suryavanshi, said that no OTP is required to ‘unlock’ the EVM.
Suryavanshi said in a press conference on Sunday, “EVM is an independent system and does not require any OTP to ‘unlock’ it. It cannot be programmed and has no wireless communication capability. This is a complete lie being spread by a newspaper. We have issued a notice to Mid-Day newspaper under Section 499, 505 of IPC for defamation and spreading false news.”
According to the Vanrai police, a case has been registered against Waikar’s relative Mangesh Pandilkar under Section 188 (disobedience to official order) of the Indian Penal Code for using a mobile phone at a counting centre in Goregaon on June 4, the day the general election results were declared.
Suryavanshi said in a press conference that the personal mobile phone of Dinesh Gurav, a data entry operator of Jogeshwari assembly constituency, was found with an unauthorized person and action is being taken in this regard. Suryavanshi said, ‘Data entry and counting are two different aspects. An OTP enables the ARO to open the InCore login system for data entry. The counting process is independent and has nothing to do with the unauthorized use of a mobile phone, which is an unfortunate incident and is being investigated.’
He said, “Advanced technical features and strong administrative security measures have been put in place to eliminate any possibility of tampering. The security measures include doing everything in the presence of candidates or their agents.” The official said that neither Waikar nor the defeated candidate of Shiv Sena (UBT) Amol Kirtikar had demanded a recount, but verification of invalid postal ballots was sought and it was done.
Suryavanshi said the CCTV footage related to the case cannot be given until an order is received from a competent court. BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla cited the election officer’s clarification to demand action against opposition leaders. “Those who spread the lie that EVMs need OTP should be prosecuted. Rahul Gandhi spread this article. Priyanka Chaturvedi said EVMs can be unlocked through phones,” he said in a post on social media platform X, tagging the Election Commission.
BJP IT chief Amit Malviya dismissed the news as “complete rubbish” and said the opposition parties could “challenge it by filing an election petition”. “The BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) has won for the third time in a row. Learn to live with this fact. People have rejected the ‘indi’ alliance. There is no point in complaining endlessly,” he said on Twitter. He later posted a clarification given by the election officer.
Targeting BJP on this issue, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav said, “Today when there are apprehensions of EVM tampering in many elections of the world and the world’s renowned technology experts are openly writing about the danger of EVM tampering, then the BJP should clarify what is the reason behind the insistence on using EVMs.”
Tags: Congress, Election Commission of India, Elon Musk, Rahul Gandhi
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 16, 2024, 23:10 IST