Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi joined tech billionaire Elon Musk in questioning the security of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in India, following a controversial incident in the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency.Rahul Gandhi criticized EVMsIn a tweet on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi criticized EVMs as a black box with no transparency, citing concerns raised over the election result in Mumbai North West. The controversy erupted after allegations that a mobile phone linked to EVM operations was used improperly at a counting center. Mangesh Pandilkar, brother-in-law of winning candidate Ravindra Waikar, was booked for allegedly using a phone to generate OTPs necessary to unlock EVMs at the NESCO Centre. This is a fraud at the highest level, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, calling for action from the Election Commission of India (ECI) and warning of potential legal battles.EVMs in India are a black box, and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them.Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process.Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability. https://t.co/nysn5S8DCF pic.twitter.com/7sdTWJXOAb— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 16, 2024Elon Musk ignited debate Meanwhile, Elon Musk ignited a debate by advocating for the elimination of electronic voting machines due to security risks posed by potential hacking. Musks comments prompted responses from political figures, including BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who defended the security of Indian EVMs, emphasizing their custom design and lack of connectivity to external networks.BJP leader reactsThis prompted BJP leader and former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar to argue that secure digital hardware is achievable. Despite Chandrasekhars assurances, Musk reiterated his concerns, asserting, Anything can be hacked.This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. @elonmusk s view may apply to US n other places - where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines.But Indian EVMs are custom… https://t.co/GiaCqU1n7O— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@RajeevRC_X) June 16, 2024Controversy over EVMsThe controversy over EVMs has reignited concerns about electoral integrity in India, with politicians and technologists alike weighing in on the debate over the security and transparency of voting technologies.Lok Sabha Elections 2024During the recently concluded marathon Lok Sabha election, the Opposition had alleged that there was a possiblity of the ruling BJP tampering with electronic voting machines to turn poll outcomes in their favour. However, Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar assured that EVMs are 100% safe.
