Former CECs say EVMs can't be tampered

Three former Chief Election Commissioners (CEC) of India on Monday said the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can't be tampered with.

Talking to ANI, former CEC N Gopalaswami said to say EVMs can be tampered is absolutely incorrect.

"EVMs are stand alone machines, aren't connected to any network, and can't be influenced over Bluetooth or wireless message, so to say EVMs have something wrong is absolutely incorrect. It's only a glorified calculator, moment you open it, it goes dead," Gopalaswami said.

Former CEC H.S. Brahma also averred that EVM and VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines cannot be tampered with.

"I firmly believe that our EVMs, VVPATs cannot be tampered with. This matter should be closed once and for all as it is tried and tested. EVM is a standalone machine, question of hacking doesn't arise," Brahma said.

Another former CEC Naveen Chawla echoed similar sentiments and said EVMs cannot be tampered with now or even in the future.

"EVMs cannot be tampered with, even in the future. I am very clear about this. During my time, BJP had raised doubts on EVM so we had also held a demonstration like earlier this year for all to come and try rig it," Chawla said.

The statements of these former Chief Election Commissioners came after Mumbai Congress Chief Sanjay Nirupam on Monday said the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) victory in Gujarat was due to EVMs.

The counting of votes in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh is underway and the BJP is set to form next governments in both the states.