A US-based hacker called Syed Shuja on Monday claimed that electric voting machines, or EVMs, in India are hackable.
In an event organised by the Indian Journalists’ Association (Europe), held in London, the cyber expert from the United States demonstrated how EVMs can be hacked.
The hacker was not present at the location but was addressing the press through a possible Skype link from the US.
Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi spoke exclusively to Newsmobile and said that EVMs are completely tamper-proof.
The Election Commission of India, responding to the claims of US-based expert of EVM tampering said that the machines are foolproof and the Commission is currently analysing what legal action to be taken regarding the press conference in London.
“It has come to our notice that an event claiming to demonstrate EVMs used by ECI can be tampered with, has been organised in London. ECI has been wary of becoming a party to this motivated slugfest & stands by empirical facts about foolproof nature of ECI EVMs.”
“These EVMs are manufactured in Bharat Electronics Ltd. & Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. under very strict supervisory&security conditions. There are rigorous Standard Operating Procedures observed under the supervision of a Committee of technical experts constituted in 2010,” the EC said.
He made some sensational and so far unsubstantiated, unbelievable claims. The claims Shuja made at the event include:
- Electronic Voting Machines were hacked or rigged during the 2014 Lok Sabha election
- Senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde knew about the EVMs being hacked and was ‘murdered’ by his own party
- Shuja, who claims to have been involved in designing Electronic Voting Machines that are used in India, said that Munde was about to ‘expose’ the government on the issue of EVMs being rigged
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- Many political parties in the country were interested in finding out if EVMs could be hacked
- Shuja claimed that he fled India and sought asylum in the US because he felt threatened here. Shuja said he sought political asylum in the US when asked about the circumstances of him leaving India.
- He claimed that elections in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat were rigged.
- Telecom giant Reliance Communications helped the BJP to get low-frequency signals to hack EVMs, said Shuja
It is to be kept in mind that the Election Commission of India has maintained on multiple occasions that the EVMs used in India cannot be tampered with.
Very serious allegations made by #cyberexpert Syed Shuja on corruption and intimidation in 2014 in India. “I was shot at, everyone else died”. pic.twitter.com/UliPy22muV
— Foreign Press Association (@FPALondon) January 21, 2019
(Newsmobile independently cannot verify the authenticity of these claims and we will update the story with versions of the parties and companies named)
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