EVM
For the last few days, there has been an atmosphere of tension between the ruling party and the opposition regarding EVM. After Elon Musk’s statement on EVM, opposition leaders have once again started raising questions on the reliability of EVM. At the same time, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has already clarified that the EVM used in India cannot be hacked. However, after Elon Musk’s claim, many questions have started arising in people’s minds about EVM. Former Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekhar, while answering Elon Musk’s tweet, has explained about the EVM used in India and why it cannot be hacked.
Standalone Device
Former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar, who is also a chip designer, said that the EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) that Elon Musk has talked about is used in America. The EVM used in America or other countries has inbuilt internet connectivity. On the other hand, the EVM used in India is a stand-alone device, that is, it does not have connectivity to any network or media. The EVM used in India can neither be connected to the internet through Bluetooth, nor Wi-Fi, nor any wire.
In such a situation, the EVM used by the Indian Election Commission cannot be connected to any external device. At the same time, the claim made by Musk was regarding the elections to be held in America and the EVM used in it. Musk had said in his claim that electronic voting machines should not be used in the US elections, because there is a high possibility of it being hacked by humans or AI. Musk’s statement was only in view of the US elections. However, many opposition parties of India have started making fresh allegations against the Election Commission regarding the claims of Elon Musk.
Completely safe
There are many FAQs about EVM on the Election Commission’s website, according to which, a secure controller is used in ECI-EVM. Information about this controller is available in the public domain. According to the Election Commission, the EVM used in India is a standalone device, which does not have any wired or wireless connectivity. The BU, CU and VVPAT units installed in it have digital certificates.
EVM (Electronic Voting Machine)
In simple words, the EVM used in India is like an old one-button feature phone, which does not have internet connectivity. Because of this, it is impossible to hack these feature phones. On the other hand, you can understand the EVM used in America like a smartphone, which has internet connectivity. Therefore, there is a possibility of it being hacked.