EVM ‘tampering’ demo: EC official dares AAP to do it in hackathon

Election Commission of India will announce a date for a ‘hackathon’ after an all-party meet in Delhi on May 12. All parties have been asked to send their representatives.

Election Commission of India dismissed the EVM hacking claims made by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during a demonstration in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday.

Election Commission of India said manipulating an EVM prototype in Delhi assembly is not the same thing as tampering with the EVMs used for polling.. (Harikrishna Katragadda/ MINT)

Officials said any machine that is carried out without permission from the secured premises of the commission ceases to be an EVM that is used for polling.

“If it is a prototype, then it is not the same as the EVM used by the commission. To say EVM can be hacked by manipulating a prototype is not the same thing,” a source told HT.

The commission will announce a date for organising a hackathon after an all party meeting on May 12.

All recognised national and regional parties have been asked to nominate their representatives to the hackathon.

“AAP should also send their representatives to the hacking challenge to prove their allegations,” an EC official said.

Former Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla told HT that the authenticity of the machine used by AAP in the Assembly is under question.

“I have heard about the demonstration. But whose machine is it? Is it an EVM belonging to the Election Commission? In EC machines, these kind of tampering can’t happen. They are manufactured by two important public sector companies and it is not possible to tamper with these,” Chawla said.