“This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. Elon Musk’s view may apply to US n other places – where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar in reply to the Tesla CEO.
The former Minister further added that “But Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media – No connectivity, no bluetooth, wifi, Internet. ie there is no way in. Factory programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed. Electronic voting machines can be architected and built right as India has done. We would be happy to run a tutorial Elon.”
Standing his grounds, Elon Musk in reply to Rajeev said “Anything can be hacked.”The statement comes after Elon Musk claimed that electronic voting machines should be elimindated over risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.
“We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high,” wrote Musk on X, which he owns.
On the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also participated in the debate in support of Musk’s statement.
‘EVMs in India are a black box’
Rahul Gandhi while replying to Elon Musk said “EVMs in India are a “black box,” and nobody is allowed to scrutinize 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.”
EVMs debate in India
Over the years, the issue of EVMs have been raised by the opposition several times. Several opposition parties, including those part of the INDIA bloc, have demanded that slips in all constituencies should be matched with the EVM count for greater transparency and have questioned the reliability of EVMs.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had once dubbed EVM as ‘Modi Voting Machine’ (MVM) while former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP leader Mayawati has been demanding that the ballot system be reintroduced.
The government, however, has gone on record to say that there is no proposal to reintroduce the ballot system.
On concerns raised by opposition parties over the efficacy of EVMs, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar had recently said it was the poll panel’s responsibility to convince political parties.
Before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls began, the Election Commission rubbished reports that EVMs erroneously registered votes in favour of ruling BJP during mock polling in Kerala. It had told the Supreme Court that till date, only one instance of mismatch between EVM and VVPAT counting was detected – in 2019 because of human error.
The EC also rejected the opposition INDIA bloc’s demand to revert to the old system of counting of postal ballots prior to the last round of EVM counting, saying that counting rules could not be changed mid-course.
