EVM rumours are back; ECI course corrects again

Just ten days after the 2024 Lok sabha election results, the debate whether the EVMs can be hacked or not is back under the spotlight, but this time, the richest man on the planet, Elon Musk saying “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.” In response, the former Union minister Chandrasekhar said Elon Musk's remark is a "huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware.” 

Rajeev Chandrashekhar further said, “@elonmusk’s view may apply to US n other places - where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines. But Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media - No connectivity, no bluetooth, wifi, Internet. ie there is no way in. Factory programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed. Electronic voting machines can be architected and built right as India has done. We wud be happy to run a tutorial Elon”. In a short reply, Musk further said that, “Anything can be hacked”.

With Musk raising concerns about the transparency and hacking of EVM machines, opposition leaders in India also started pointing fingers towards the use of EVM machines in India. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote on X raising his concerns, “EVMs in India "are a 'black box' and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them. 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”, sharing a news report on Ravindra Waikar’s election.

Recently, the brother-in-law of recently elected Mumbai North West Lok Sabha MP Ravindra Waikar, Mangesh Pandilkar, has been charged by the Mumbai Police for allegedly using a cell phone at a counting center on June 4, the day the Lok Sabha election results were declared. Several news reports claimed that Pandilkar is accused of using the cell phone inside the Mumbai counting center located in the Goregaon neighborhood. The reports said that, phone was used to generate a One-Time Password (OTP) that unlocked an electronic voting machine (EVM) at the counting centre.

Refuting all the news reports and concerns of EVM being operated with the OTP, returning officer Vandana Suryavanshi, in a press conference in Mumbai, clarified that voting machines do not require any OTP to function. She said, “It is a technically foolproof standalone device. There is no provision for wireless or wired communication with it. For EVMs, there is no need for an OTP. The results are generated by pressing a button”. Suryavanshi further accused the news of being false and unverified and said, “This is a complete lie being spread by a newspaper, which some leaders are using to create a false narrative”. The returning officer further added that the Election Commission has served a notice to the Mumbai-based Mint newspaper under IPC sections for defamation and spreading fake news related to the EVM functionality. 

Reacting to the hullabaloo Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party chief, wrote, “Technology is to remove problems, if they become a cause of problems, their use must be stopped. When risks of EVM tampering are being flagged in several elections across the world and well-known technology experts are flagging risks, the BJP must clear the air on why they are bent on using EVMs”, advocating the use of ballot paper for elections.

However, the Indian Election Commission maintains that EVMs are safe and the allegations of hacking EVMs are baseless. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, addressing the media took a swipe at those questioning EVMs. after the Lok Sabha poll results and said, "The results of EVM are in front of everyone. Why to accuse that poor fellow? Let it rest for a few days. Let 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 get abused again, but will deliver good results. It has been showing similar results since the last 20-22 elections, the government keeps changing,”.