EC attempts to convince political parties by giving demo on EVM security features

During a meeting with various political parties, the EC on Friday gave a detailed presentation about security features of EVMs.

New Delhi, May 12: In order to prove that electronic voting machines are tamper-proof, the Election Commission on Friday made a detailed presentation about the security features of EVMs, in front of various political parties.

On Friday, the EC hosted an all-party meeting regarding EVM issue and other electoral reforms in the national capital.

The EC officials made a detailed presentation on EVM security features, say reports. The issue of tampering of EVMs has been hogging the limelight since the time the results of the five assembly elections were declared in March this year. On Friday, officials of the EC met representatives from 55 political parties from across the country to discuss on the entire row in the national capital.

The meeting came at a time after the Aam Aadmi Party proved in the Delhi Assembly that the machines could be tampered recently. On Thursday, hundreds of AAP workers demonstrated outside the EC headquarters in Delhi demanding that voter-verifiable paper audit trail- equipped EVMs be used in future elections.

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

During Friday's meeting, the EC welcomed the VVPAT move by the government. The EC officials said they have received funds for VVPAT. The EC said that VVPAT-enabled EVMs will be implemented by 2019.

Participating in a discussion on the issue during a day-long special session of the Delhi Assembly earlier this week, AAP legislator Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed that a voting machine could be manipulated by simply feeding it with a "secret code".

Using what his party claimed was a prototype EVM developed by a group of IITians, Bhardwaj, himself an engineer, showed how it could be tampered with to favour a particular candidate.

Right from Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati to AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, several political leaders in recent past have accused that EVMs could be manipulated to favour a particular party or a candidate in any election. However, the EC has denied all these charges and is set to conduct a hackathon where experts could come and check the veracity of EVMs.

OneIndia News