Form a team of all parties, give us your EVMs and will prove hacking charge: AAP to EC

Ahead of the Election Commission’s all party meet, The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Thursday demanded that an all-party committee be formed under the umbrella of EC and be given access to its electronic voting machines (EVM).

Aam Aadmi Party claims that EVM machines used in recent elections can be hacked and protested outside the Election Commission over the issue.

AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, who had hacked an EVM replica on the floor of the Delhi Assembly on May 9, told a press conference that the question was no longer if EVMs could be manipulated, but whether the recent polls could have been rigged.

The AAP fared poorly in the polls, which were largely won by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“We will request the EC to form a committee and put representatives of all political parties and even the EC on it. Our expert team will show the committee how voting machines were rigged,” Bhardwaj said.

Also Read: AAP stages protest outside EC, demands VVPAT equipped EVMS for future polls

He said any party could name five booths where they suspected EVMs had been tampered with.

“We will demand that the machines that were used be provided to us,” he said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of AAP workers came out to the streets, demanding that paper trail-equipped EVMs or voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) be used in future elections.

At Friday’s EC meet, AAP will be represented by Bhardwaj, who claims expertise in the area in his capacity as an engineer, and two technical experts.

“The Commission should allow technical inspection of its EVMs by the expert panels of various political parties to see if the EVMs can be hacked or not. Polls should be held only on VVPAT-enabled machines so that paper trail guarantees the integrity of the electoral process,” he wrote.

The VVPAT-equipped EVMs dispense a paper slip which helps voters confirm that their vote has indeed gone to the candidate of their choice.

(With PTI Inputs)