Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday dismissed the claims of hacking and tampering electronic voting machines (EVMs), saying there is no scope for such manipulations as the machines are foolproof.

Notably, in December 2024, the Mumbai Cyber Police had registered an FIR against Syed Shuja, who is reportedly hiding in another country, for allegedly making claims to hack and tamper EVMs.

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Addressing a press conference, the CEC responding to allegations on EVMs manipulation, voter increase, mismatch in votes polled and other concerns raised by the different political parties including Congress, said, “There is no evidence of unreliability or any drawback in the EMV. There is no question of introducing viruses or bugs in the EMV. There is no question of invalid votes in the EVM. No rigging is possible.”

“High Court and the Supreme Court are continuously saying this in different judgments. No alteration in results is possible by activating a Trojan horse or a virus. Evidence inspires confidence of the Court that they are tamper proof. EVMs are foolproof devices for counting. Allegations of tampering are baseless,” he said.

Asserting that India’s elections are gold standard, the CEC said there is no scope for any irregularities in the Commission because the procedures are so detailed and added that individually if anyone commits a mistake, action will be taken.

It may be mentioned that the Election Commission (EC) on December 10 had said there was no discrepancy found between VVPAT slip count and EVM control unit count in the Maharashtra Assembly polls.

The statement came days after the Congress filed a complaint with the poll panel in which it alleged serious and grave inconsistencies in the data relating to the polling and counting processes for the Maharashtra polls.

On allegations of voter deletion by the political parties, Kumar said all the claims and objections details are shared with the political parties and no deletion can be done without Former 7.

The CEC also said the poll panel would take strict action against derogatory remarks on women and use of children during the poll campaign.