AAP demonstrates EVM 'tampering', EC trashes it

The AAP on Tuesday sought to demonstrate in the Delhi assembly how an EVM can be tampered but Election Commission debunked the claim saying the machine used was a mere "prototype".

And Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been campaigning against alleged EVM tampering, threw down a challenge saying the AAP could change EVM motherboards in 90 seconds.

Amid the bribery allegations against Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party fielded its legislator Saurabh Bharadwaj in a day's special assembly session to prove a point.

Using a prototype of what looked like an EVM used by the poll panel, Bharadwaj claimed that codes embedded inside the voting machines can be used to manipulate results.

He said this is how the Bharatiya Janata Party won the recent elections.

"I will show you how the machines on which the faith of democracy rests can be tampered with. An ordinary engineer like me with just 10-15 days of hard work can tamper with them to ensure that votes go only to one desired party or candidate," he said in the assembly.

The AAP has been vocal in alleging that EVMs were tampered with in the assembly elections in Punjab and the civic polls in Delhi, both of which it lost.

The Election Commission, which has called an all-party meeting on EVMs, dismissed Bharadwaj's assertions.

"What they used is a prototype of an EVM. How can they say they have hacked an EVM using a prototype?" asked an Election Commission official.

The official also questioned the need for the demonstration in the Assembly a day ahead of the meeting convened by the poll panel to discuss issues related to EVMs and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail.

"They could have waited to raise their concerns at the meet," added the official.

While the BJP accused the AAP of "mocking democracy" inside the assembly, sacked Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra, who has hurled the bribery charges against Kejriwal, said the demonstration was a diversionary ploy.

"AAP MLAs are mocking at democracy -- another stunt to divert public attention from Kejriwal's corruption," the BJP said in a statement. It flayed Kejriwal for not replying to the corruption charges.

Outside the assembly, Kejriwal dared the Election Commission.

"(EVM tampering) is dangerous for democracy and the country. Give AAP the EVMs. In 90 seconds the motherboard can be changed," he said.

--IANS

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