EVM tampering issue: Election Commission to convene all-party meet on May 12

The issue of EVMs being rigged was brought up after the assembly elections of five states, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur this year. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal was one of the first to raise the matter along with BSP leader Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav who questioned the polling machines’ accuracy.

“When petrol can be stolen with the help of a remote through a chip without having any internet connection then through EVMs too. Need to stop the wrong use of technology,” Yadav had tweeted.

Also, during the MCD polls, the AAP government calling the EVMs “faulty” had questioned the State Election Commission’s inaction. To this the SEC had responded with an invitation offering a “peep” into the Election Commission’s museum so that it gets to know about the “gold standard of electoral management” in the country, and also “learn democracy with Gandhi”.

The Uttarakhand High Court recently ordered the seizure of all EVMs used during the recent assembly polls in seven constituencies taking cognizance of petitions filed by Congress candidates who lost from these seats. The court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, State Election Commission and others, giving them a time period of six weeks to respond.

The Election Commission has remained firm about its claim that the EVMs are secure and cannot be tampered with. The Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi had also said that the ECI is planning to “hold a challenge” and let people try and hack it in order to prove its reliability.