Deadline to apply for EC’s challenge to tamper with EVMs ends today; no political party applied so far

With the deadline to apply for Election Commission’s challenge to try and tamper with the electronic voting machines to end on Friday, no political parties have so far applied for it.

On Saturday last, the Commission had announced that the challenge to hack and tamper with the electronic voting machines (EVMs) would take place on June 3 and the seven recognised national and 49 state parties can apply by May 26, 5 pm, to participate in the challenge.

But till Thursday, nobody has applied, Commission sources said.

After the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the BSP and the AAP had questioned the reliability of the machines.

Later, several opposition parties, except the AAP, had urged the EC to revert to paper ballot, saying the faith of the people in EVMs has eroded.

A demand of the AAP to tamper with the motherboard of the machine was rejected by the Commission on Thursday.

It said change in circuits would mean the EVM is no longer the one used by the Commission.

Also read: EVM Hackathon: Election Commission rejects Aam Aadmi Party’s demand to change motherboard

Also read: EVM challenge: EC awaits entrants; Congress, AAP, BSP keep mum as deadline looms