'Hacking' Accusations, FIR And Elon Musk: EVM Tampering Row Explained (image-Instagram/ravindrawaikar)
Following the Lok Sabha election in 2024, there have been several complaints regarding Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) tampering and discrepancies in the EVM votes. Even when the seven phases of the election were underway, multiple incidents of alleged voter fraud, malpractices, and violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) occurred. Since the Lok Sabha results were announced, there have been reports of data mismatches in the EVM voter data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Video: Data Mismatch Found In EVM Votes Across 140 Parliamentary Constituencies
More recently, a huge row has been ongoing on the subject of EVMs and EVM tampering, with even X and Tesla Inc. founder and CEO Elon Musk participating.
But what exactly is the EVM row about, and how did it start? Here’s a breakdown of the events:
In the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls, Ravindra Waikar won the Mumbai North West seat under the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena banner with a narrow margin of mere 48 votes, defeating Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Amol Gajanan Kirtikar.
An FIR, An OTP And A Media Report
An FIR was registered at Mumbai’s Vanrai police station after two independent candidates accused Mangesh Pandilkar, Waikar’s brother-in-law, of allegedly using a mobile phone connected to the EVM to generate an unexplained OTP to unlock the EVMs at Goregaon East’s NESCO Centre on June 4, the day of counting votes, as per a Mid Day report.
The police claimed that the FIR had nothing to do with EVM tampering. R. Rajbhar, senior inspector at Vanrai, stated that polling staff Dinesh Gurav has also been taken into custody for allowing Pandilkar to take his phone inside the counting station on June 4.
Read Also: “Standalone Device, No Need For OTP”: Election Commission On Mumbai EVM Controversy
The media report led to a social media frenzy, which led to Returning Officer Vandana Suryavanshi of the 27 Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency holding a press conference denying the allegations. “There is no OTP on mobile for unlocking EVM as it is non-programmable and it has no wireless communication capabilities,” she said, as quoted by The Wire.
According to the Returning Officer, the OTP generated was related to updating the data on the official website of the EC, and the mobile phone of one of the officers had “fell” into Pandilkar’s hands. Notably, the independent candidate who filed the complaint had done so before the EC paid attention to the issue.
Opposition Parties Demand Answers
Following the complaint, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged “fraud at the highest level” and highlighted that despite the candidate’s right to review CCTV footage from counting day, Mumbai Suburban District Collector has denied this request to Kirtikar. She also emphasised the irregularities in the vote counting process, noting that the announcement of votes was halted after the 18th or 19th round. After a pause, Ravindra Waikar was declared the winner after the final round.
Congress senior leader and Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi raised transparency and accountability questions about India’s electoral process. The grand old party demanded clarification from the EC on the issue.
The EC, while admitting that the mobile phone of an authorised person was used without permission, clarified that EVMs are standalone devices and do not require OTPs to unlock. Suryavanshi emphasised that the EVMs are non-programmable and have no wireless communication capabilities.
But where does Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk come into all of this?
Replying to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s, nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy and an independent hopeful for the 2024 US Elections, post on hundreds of instances of voting irregularities in the recently held Puerto Rican elections, Musk said, “We should eliminate voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.”
Former Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, replied to Musk’s tweet, calling it “wrong” and a “huge sweeping generalisation.” Comparing it to the US and other regions, where “they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines,” Chandrasekhar said that the Indian EVMs are “custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media” with no connectivity. He also added that the EVMs can be built right, like India has.
However, Musk did not agree. Replying to the BJP leader, Musk stated, “Anything can be hacked.”
