EVMs cannot be tampered with, courts say rigging impossible: CEC Rajiv Kumar

PTI, Jan 7, 2025, 8:08 PM IST

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar (Credit: PTI / File)

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday rejected suggestions that EVMs can be tampered with and cited several court judgments upholding their reliability to state that rigging them is an impossibility.

Rejecting claims by opposition parties about the voting machines being compromised, he said the allegations of tampering were baseless and advised the public against “jhooth ke gubbare (spreading lies)”.

Announcing the schedule for the Delhi Assembly polls, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kumar also made an apparent reference to US billionaire Elon Musk’s comments last year that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) could be hacked.

“It is a misconceived narrative. A global IT expert said EVMs can be hacked while our elections were going on. They (US) don’t have EVMs, they have electronic voting mechanisms. The remarks created pandemonium here. The same expert later said that India takes a single day to finish counting while the US takes over a month. We just follow the narratives that are suiting,” he said without naming Musk.

Musk had last year called for the elimination of EVMs, citing risk of being hacked by humans or AI.

Explaining the processes followed to maintain the integrity of EVMs, Kumar said, EVMs were commissioned only seven to eight days before polling day and candidates kept informed through their agents at every step.

“The same day, a new battery is put in and it is sealed and the EVMs are kept in strongrooms. When the seal is broken on polling day, polling agents are allowed to be in the strongrooms,” he said.

The CEC noted that the highest courts in the country had ruled on 42 occasions that EVMs were not hackable and allegations of tampering with the machines were totally baseless.

“The courts have noted that there is no evidence of unreliability or any drawback in EVMs. There is no question of introducing a virus or bug in the EVM and there is no question of invalid votes,” he said.

“No rigging or alteration of results is possible. Evidence inspires confidence of court that they are tamper-proof. EVMs are fullproof devices, what else can be said …,” he added.

The CEC reiterated that it was impossible to change voter turnout data and a misconceived narrative was being spread about an increase in voting after 5 pm.

“Disclosure is our main pillar, detailed guidelines and data sets are available on our website. The Indian voter is extremely aware, conscious, they understand everything,” he said.