EVM Controversy: After the results of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, both the winning party and the opposition were claiming their victory. Then Elon Musk, the boss of social media ‘X’, makes a tweet. This tweet is made regarding the US elections and then the noise of EVM starts being heard in Indian politics. From Rahul Gandhi to Akhilesh Yadav, everyone starts expressing concern over EVMs by re-tweeting Elon Musk’s post. Actually, Elon Musk’s tweet on EVMs was in response to a post by Robert F Kennedy Jr., nephew of former US President John F Kennedy and independent candidate for the next US elections, in which irregularities in voting in Puerto Rico were reported. Musk posted on X on this and wrote, “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, although small, is still very high.”
The matter was limited to America, but former Union Minister Chandrashekhar replied to Elon Musk on this. He tweeted, “Musk’s comment is a very general statement, which implies that no one can make secure digital hardware. Elon Musk’s idea may apply to America and other places, where they use regular compute platforms to make voting machines connected to the Internet, but Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media.
There is no connectivity, no Bluetooth, WiFi, Internet, that is, there is no way to hack them. Factory programmed controllers cannot be reprogrammed. Electronic voting machines can be designed and manufactured in the same way as India has done, we would be happy to run a tutorial for Elon.”
On Chandrashekhar’s statement, Musk briefly but further emphasized his claim and said, “Anything can be hacked.” On this, Chandrashekhar argued that although anything is possible, EVMs remain a reliable voting method compared to paper ballots.
Jumping into Chandrasekhar’s debate, opposition leaders shared Elon Musk’s comments to emphasise their oft-repeated concerns about the EVM system. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said EVMs in India are a ‘black box’ and no one is allowed to examine them. Sharing Musk’s post and a news report on Ravindra Waikar’s election, he said, “Serious concerns are being raised about the transparency of our electoral process. Democracy becomes a sham and is prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability.”
Samajwadi Party chief and Congress ally Akhilesh Yadav also shared Musk’s post, saying, “Technologies are meant to solve problems, if they cause problems, their use should be stopped. When the dangers of EVM tampering are being flagged in several elections across the world and well-known technology experts are flagging the risks, the BJP should clarify why they are adamant on using EVMs?” Akhilesh Yadav demanded that the upcoming elections be held using the ballot paper method.
Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi was not far behind and in a post on X regarding the vote counting in the North West Mumbai seat, she said, “This is fraud at the highest level and yet @ECISVEEP is sleeping.” The Indian opposition group also shared Elon Musk’s comment from its official handle.
‘Rumors are being spread on EVMs’, Election Commission’s befitting reply to the allegations of Elon Musk and Rahul Gandhi
On the controversy arising over the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), the Central Election Commission (ECI) on Sunday said in clear words that rumors are being spread about EVMs. Mumbai suburban district collector Vandana Suryavanshi said in a press conference regarding the ongoing controversy on EVMs that false news has been spread about EVMs and all the allegations are baseless. She said, “No OTP comes for unlocking the EVM, the news that is going around is completely wrong. EVM is not connected to any machine.”
Giving clarification on Rahul Gandhi’s tweet regarding EVM, he said, “The news that is going around is wrong. EVM does not require any OTP, rather the work is done by pressing the result button. The Election Commission has followed its complete process regarding EVM.”
The Election Commission says that EVMs are a viable voting method and strong technical and administrative security measures are in place for their use. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar recently took a dig at those who questioned EVMs. Addressing the media after the Lok Sabha election results, he said, “The results of EVMs are in front of everyone. Why blame that poor thing? Let it rest for a few days. Let the EVM rest till the next election. Then it will come out, then its battery will be changed, then its papers will be changed, then it will be misused, but good results will come, such results have been coming since the last 20-22 elections, the government keeps changing.”
