Any voter can tamper an EVM in 90 seconds: AAP

Any voter can manipulate an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) by using a secret code in 90 seconds, claimed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA and software engineer Saurabh Bhardwaj in a demonstration in the Delhi Assembly. The Election Commission reacted by rejecting the claim and saying that the look-alike gadget was not an EVM used by the Commission.

AAP claimed that the gadget it used had been made by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduates and was similar to the machines used by the EC in elections. It dared the EC to hand over one of its EVMs so that AAP could show how it could be tampered within 90 seconds.

The high point of the demonstration, telecast live by several TV channels, was Bhardwaj’s claim that the machine can be tested first and shown to be functioning correctly before a voter changes the behaviour of the machine and ensures that votes are polled in favour of a particular party.

While the machine is sealed and sent to strongrooms after the polling under heavy security, Bhardwaj claimed, by then it had already been manipulated.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told the media outside the Assembly, "He (Bhardwaj) showed how easy it is to hack EVMs and it is being done on a massive scale. It is dangerous for democracy and the country, and people should raise their voice against it.”

While AAP went on an offensive and questioned why a forensic examination of the EVM machines cannot be done when even meat kept in fridges are being examined to see whether it is beef, political rivals questioned the display. The ‘drama’, said the BJP, was designed as a diversion so that the Delhi chief minister and AAP do not have to answer allegations related to corruption raised by the sacked AAP minister Kapil Mishra.

While Bhardwaj, in a dig at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said AAP welcomed both ‘Harvard and hard work’ to disprove his claim, a war of words broke out on Twitter with some wondering how the same machines could have given AAP a landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly election in 2015 and a convincing majority to the Congress in Punjab this year.

The Election Commission has invited representatives of various political parties to attend a meeting on Friday in Delhi to reassure them that the EVMs are tamper-proof. And a EC spokesman dared AAP to participate in the hackathon to be held towards the end of May to disprove the Commission.