The Election Commission (EC) has decided to throw an open challenge to all political parties, scientists and technologists who say that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with. The challenge, through which the EC wants to prove that EVMs cannot be tampered with, will be taken up in the first week of May.
The challenge, which consists of four levels, will be held at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi for 10 days. This comes after the Opposition parties, particularly the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), consistently attacked the poll panel saying that EVMs must be replaced with ballot papers since the machines were being tampered with resulting in false results.
Congress and AAP-led delegations had recently met senior EC officials and expressed their disapproval of the use of EVMs during elections. They asked the poll panel to return to the system of ballot paper voting. The issue came into limelight again when a VVPAT machine in Madhya Pradesh dispensed only BJP slips irrespective of the button pressed.
Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal had also challenged the EC at a press conference saying that he could prove within 72 hours that the machines could be tampered with and are not fool-proof.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati was the first one to allege that EVMs had been tampered with during the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
