The BJP leader invited Elon Musk for a brief tutorial on how to build a safe electronic voting machine for free and fair elections
Rajeev Chandrashekar, Former Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology got into a disagreement with X and Tesla, Inc. founder and CEO Elon Musk, over the security of Electronic Voting Machines. In a post on X, billionaire Elon Musk commented on the unreliability of EVMs in response to reports of irregularities in EVMs in Puerto Rico.
Chandrashekhar’s post on X met with a barrage of comments expressing different opinions. With that conversation, Elon Musk also responded to the post and commented “Anything can be hacked”. This was started when Elon Musk suggested the elimination of the use of electronic voting machines earlier.
Technically ur right – anything is possible E.g..wth quantum compute, i can decrypt any level of encryption, with lab level tech n plenty of resources, i can hack any digital hardware/system incldng flight controls of a glass cockpit of a jet etc etc. But thats a different type…
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@RajeevRC_X) June 16, 2024
Musk was referring to a report on software issues with EVMs supplied by the American firm Dominion Voting Systems, which confronted a flood of criticism in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential elections in the U.S.
Also, read| Elon Musk Draws Attention To Poll Rigging In EVMs
The company settled a multi-million dollar defamation suit brought by it on Fox News, whose anchors had cast doubts on its voting machine’s authenticity. Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, had been holding primary elections for gubernatorial polls due in November. Tesla Owner Musk had said, “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI is too high.”
On the contrary, from advocating the use of isolated EVMs free from any network or media, the BJP leader invited Elon Musk for a brief tutorial on how to build a safe electronic voting machine for free and fair elections. “Electronic voting machines can be architected and built right as India has done. We would be happy to run a tutorial Elon,” he responded. However, Chandrasekhar clarified through his post that the concern does not apply in Indian elections where EVMs are custom-designed, secure, and isolated from any network or media, and called it a ‘sweeping generalisation’.
Also, read| Rajeev Chandrasekhar First Says “Curtains Down On Public Service”, Then Issues Clarification
