EC fixes date for EVM hackathon after all-party meet
The Election Commission on Friday challenged the political parties to try to hack its Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) this Sunday or Monday. The decision was taken after the poll panel held an all-party meeting over the EVM tampering issue. Several political parties, including AAP, Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP, have raised doubts over the reliability of the EVMs.n
The Election Commission of India today asked the political parties to feel free to hack their Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) this Sunday or Monday. The decision was taken at an all-party meeting the poll panel held today in New Delhi.The all-party meeting with the Election Commission was called after a number of them, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, alleged widespread tampering of the EVMs in the recent Assembly and municipal elections.   Representatives of seven national parties and 48 state parties were invited by the poll panel for the meeting at the Constitution Club in Delhi to reassure the parties that the EVMs cannot be tampered with and were secured. Most Opposition parties did not buy the Election Commission's argument. Arvind Kejirwal-led AAP and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had alleged that EVMs were tampered with in the February-March state Assembly elections in five states and the recently-concluded Delhi civic polls.AAP DEMONSTRATED TAMPERING OF EVM IN DELHI ASSEMBLYEarlier, AAP legislator Saurabh Bharadwaj, in a special session of the Delhi Assembly earlier this week, had sought to demonstrate the procedure for tampering of an EVM.The poll panel dismissed his assertion outright saying the machine used by Bharadwaj was a "lookalike" of an ECEVM and therefore could not be used to demonstrate "any magic" or tampering.Referring to the Supreme Court judgment, Opposition parties maintained that there was an urgent need for the implementation of the apex court's order in connection with the use of VVPAT EVM machines during upcoming elections.The issues of electoral reforms, simultaneous elections of assemblies and Lok Sabha were also discussed in the meeting. Also read | In all-party meet, Election Commission to prove EVMs are tamper-proof, brief on hackathon challengeAlso read | AAP demands all-party probe into EVM tampering ahead of Election Commission meet