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EC must ensure complete transparency of EVMs or abolish them: Rahul Gandhi

The latest statement of the Congress leader came a day after he called EVMs a ‘black box’ in India that cannot be scrutinised, in the wake of a media report claiming EVM hacking at Mumbai North West parliamentary constituency in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

EC must ensure complete transparency of EVMs or abolish them: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (Photo:ANI)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Election Commission of India (ECI) must either ensure complete transparency of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or abolish them.

The latest statement of the Congress leader came a day after he called EVMs a ‘black box’ in India that cannot be scrutinised, in the wake of a media report claiming EVM hacking at Mumbai North West parliamentary constituency in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

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The poll panel official, however, rejected the EVM hacking claim.

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In a post on X, Gandhi said, “When democratic institutions are captured, the only safeguard lies in electoral processes that are transparent to the public. EVM is currently a black box. EC (Election Commission) must either ensure complete transparency of the machines and processes, or abolish them.”

On Sunday, the Congress leader while referring to the media report on EVM, said, “EVMs in India are a ‘black box’, and nobody is allowed to scrutinise 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.”

Notably, Tesla chief Elon Musk on Saturday called for the elimination of EVMs.

“We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high,” he wrote on X.

Responding to his post, BJP leader and former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “Elon Musk’s view may apply to US and other places where they use regular compute platforms to build internet connected Voting Machines. But, Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media.”

 

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