NEW DELHI, April 12: Election Commission (EC) sources on Friday dismissed suggestions that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in India are susceptible to hacking, emphasizing that these machines function similarly to simple calculators and are not connected to the internet or infrared systems.
The response came after remarks by US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, claiming that her office had obtained evidence of vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems that could be exploited to manipulate votes. The EC sources clarified that while some countries use complex electronic voting systems involving multiple machines, processes, and private networks, including the internet, India’s EVMs are standalone devices that cannot connect to the internet, Wi-Fi, or infrared.
These EVMs have withstood legal scrutiny by the Supreme Court and are rigorously checked by political parties through various stages, including mock polls before actual voting begins. Over five crore paper trail machine slips have been verified and matched during counting in front of political party representatives, the EC sources pointed out.
The issue resurfaced following tech mogul Elon Musk’s comments last year, calling for the elimination of EVMs due to their potential vulnerability to hacking by humans or artificial intelligence. Responding to Musk’s claims, former Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar in January explained that while global IT experts had questioned the security of EVMs, India’s electoral system efficiently concludes counting in a single day, unlike the month-long process in the US. Kumar’s comments had caused a stir, but he did not specifically mention Musk by name.
