Gandhi joins EVM debate after Elon Musk flags hacking risks
What's the story
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has joined the debate regarding the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) after Elon Musk called for their scrapping due to their vulnerability to hacking. To make his point, the Congress scion shared a news clipping that said a man had used a mobile phone, which was connected to an EVM, at a counting center. This mobile phone was then used to generate an OTP that unlocked the EVM machine.
EVM scrutiny
MP's brother-in-law booked for using phone at counting center
The man in question has now been identified as the brother-in-law of newly elected Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Waikar. He won the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat by 48 votes. The accused, Mangesh Pandilkar, has been booked for using a phone at the counting center on June 4. Citing this example, Gandhi wrote, "EVMs in India are a "black box," and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them. Democracy ends up becoming a sham...prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability."
Twitter Post
Read Gandhi's post here
EVMs in India are a "black box," and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 16, 2024
Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process.
Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability. https://t.co/nysn5S8DCF pic.twitter.com/7sdTWJXOAb
Fraud allegations
Alleged EVM fraud sparks outrage among politicians
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also reacted strongly to this incident, calling it "a fraud at the highest level" and criticizing the Election Commission of India for its inaction. "If ECI doesn't step in this will be the biggest election result scam after Chandigarh Mayor election and will see this battle in the courts. This brazenness has to be punished," she posted on X.
EVM elimination
Elon Musk advocates for elimination of EVMs
However, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar took a different stance than his opposition counterparts, calling Musk's views about EVMs "wrong." In a long post, Chandrasekhar said Musk's statement is a "sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware" and that India would be pleased to run a tutorial on EVMs. "Musk's view may apply to US and other places..But Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media," he wrote.
Paper ballots
Indian EVMs: Secure and tamper-proof, says experts
Notably, India uses third-generation EVMs, also known as M3 EVMs. They are tamper-proof, and attempting to open them causes them to enter "Safety Mode" and become inoperable. A dedicated team from three prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology upgraded these machines to ensure robustness and security. Professor Dinesh K Sharma from IIT Bombay told NDTV that "Indian EVMs are different from other EVMs in the world. The M3 EVMs have no connection to any other device, not even mains power supply."