Congress questions reliability of EVMs

New Delhi, November 10

After the ruling NDA took an initial lead from the grand alliance in poll trends for Bihar, Congress leader Udit Raj on Tuesday raised questions on the reliability of EVMs asking why they cannot be hacked if satellites can be controlled from the earth, the Election Commission (EC) asserted on Tuesday that the machines are “absolutely robust and tamper-free”.

“If the direction of satellites to Mars and Moon can be controlled from the earth, then why can’t EVM be hacked,” Udit Raj said in a tweet in Hindi. “If elections were held in America with EVMs, could Trump have lost,” he asked.

But another Congress leader, Karti Chidambaram, said the electronic voting machine (EVM) system is robust, accurate and dependable. “This has always been my view. I stand by it. There have been doubters of the EVM from across political parties, particularly when the results don’t go in their favour. Till now, no one has demonstrated scientifically their claims. Whatever be the outcome of any election, it’s time to stop blaming the EVM. In my experience, the EVM system is robust, accurate and dependable,” he tweeted. Responding to a question on doubts being raised by some politicians, Deputy Election Commissioner in-charge of EVMs Sudip Jain said the machines are absolutely robust and tamper-proof.

“It has been clarified time and again that EVMs are absolutely robust and tamper-proof. Even the Supreme Court has upheld their integrity more than once,” he said.

Jain recalled that in 2017, the commission had offered an “EVM challenge” to political parties. “The integrity of EVMs is absolutely without any doubts and merits no other clarification,” he said. — PTI

EVMs absolutely robust and tamper-proof: EC

Responding to doubts being raised by some politicians, Deputy Election Commissioner in-charge of EVMs Sudip Jain said the machines are absolutely robust and tamper-proof.

“It has been clarified time and again that EVMs are tamper-proof. Even the Supreme Court has upheld their integrity,” he said.