Explained: Report on EVM 'hacking' in Mumbai triggers row
A political slugfest has erupted over allegations of electronic voting machine (EVM) hacking in the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition parties engaged in a war of words after a report by Mid-Day newspaper alleged that a relative of Ravindra Waikar—the winning Shiv Sena candidate—was found using a mobile phone "connected" to an EVM during vote counting on June 4. Let's take a look at the controversy and who said what.
What does the Mid-Day report say
According to the newspaper, Waikar's brother-in-law, Mangesh Pandilkar, used a mobile phone to "unlock" an EVM on vote counting day. Returning Officer Vandana Suryavanshi and Mumbai Police have dismissed the allegations. However, Pandilkar and poll official Dinesh Gurav have been booked by the Vanrai Police under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code for violating the Election Commission of India's ban on mobile phones inside counting centers.
Notices issued to 2 newspapers, says poll official
At a Sunday press conference, poll official Suryavanshi said notices were issued to Mid-Day and Marathi daily Lokmat for allegedly publishing false news, asking them to respond within 24 hours as to why criminal proceedings under Sections 499 and 505 should not be initiated, PTI reported. Suryavanshi added that the personal mobile phone of Gurav, a data entry operator from Jogeshwari constituency, was found with an unauthorized person, and action is being taken.
'Advanced safeguards in place'
"Data entry and vote counting are two different aspects. An OTP enables the ARO [assistant returning officer] to open the encore login system for data entry. The counting process is independent and has nothing to do with unauthorized use of mobile phone, which is an unfortunate incident and is being probed," Suryavanshi said. "Advance technical features and robust administrative safeguards are in place to rule out any possibility of manipulation," she added.
ECI should prosecute all for sharing lie: BJP
The official added that neither Waikar nor the losing candidate, Amol Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena (UBT), requested a recount. However, they did call for a verification of invalid postal ballots, which was subsequently carried out. Meanwhile the opposition, including the Congress, questioned the reliability of EVMs, and the BJP hit out at the opposition leaders over the issue. The saffron party also demanded that the ECI should prosecute all those who "amplified the lie" by sharing the news report.
Concerns being raised about electoral process' transparency: Rahul Gandhi
Reacting to the controversy, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said in an X post, "EVMs in India are a 'black box'...nobody is allowed to scrutinize them....concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability." Separately, Senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan demanded that there be a probe and the result of the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat stayed.
Sharad Pawar's NCP seeks clarification from ECI
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) Spokesperson Clyde Crasto expressed concern over Waikar's relative accessing an ECI official's mobile phone, urging the poll body to clarify what happened while the phone was with Waikar's team. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray criticized the ECI for not releasing CCTV footage of the seat. Additionally, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned EVM credibility and demanded future elections be conducted using ballot papers.
Musk calls for elimination of EVMs
Notably, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, also joined in the discussion on EVMs calling for the elimination of the machines in the electoral process. In a recent post on X, Musk had said, "We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high." Musk was responding to Robert F Kennedy Jr's post on X, which flagged irregularities in the EVMs used in Puerto Rico's primary elections.
BJP leader responds to Musk's remarks
Responding to Musk's statement, BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the billionaire entrepreneur's remarks are a "sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware." "Musk's view may apply to US [the United States] and 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. Factory programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed," he wrote.
SC addresses row around EVMs
To recall, the reliability of EMVs had also been a source of contention in India, with the opposition seeking the old electoral method using paper ballots. However, in April of this year, the Supreme Court expressed its unwillingness to pass any ruling regarding EVMs solely on the basis of alleged hacking and manipulation. At the same time, it noted that it would not hesitate to ensure steps for improvement if it felt the need for such.
