Election Commission to hold EVM hackathon in May-end
The Election Commission said on Thursday that it will hold an open hackathon in the last week of May, allowing people to try and hack EVMs. The announcement comes amid various political parties and leaders alleging tampering of EVMs in the elections. The EC had earlier said it might invite technocrats, scientists and political parties to participate in the hackathon.
Amid criticism and even scepticism from various quarters over the functioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Election Commission has decided to hold an open hackathon for people to try and hack the voting machines in the last week of May.Last month, the poll panel had said it may invite experts, scientists, technocrats, and representatives of political parties to hack the machines, which it claims are tamper-proof. The Election Commission had announced a similar challenge in 2009 and no one could hack the EVMs.A number of Opposition parties, including the Congress, have alleged tampering of the EVMs after the recent Assembly elections. A delegation of 16 parties recently met President Pranab Mukherjee and submitted a memorandum on the alleged tampering of the voting machines during the February-March elections.Earlier today, the Election Commission also said it is likely to convene an all-party meeting on May 12 to discuss the issue of reliability of EVMs flagged by the Opposition parties.The parties have urged the Election Commission to revert to ballot system, claiming that the faith of the people in EVMs has been "eroded".Also read:Electronic Voting Machine: Here's all you wanted to know about India's EVMsHack an EVM challenge: Election Commission dares anyone to tamper voting device successfully 