Arvind Kejriwal again questions EC on EVMs

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday questioned the Election Commission’s “open challenge” to political parties and experts to prove that EVMs can be manipulated.

Mr Kejriwal wondered why the commission was not coming out with any official statement and pushing the news of the reported challenge through “sources” instead. “Why are these stories ascribed to “sources”? How credible are they? Why hasn’t EC issued any formal statement? Or is it just a plant? Has anyone actually seen any official statement from CEC? Am trying to get it since evening. Is this news correct?” he said in a series of Tweets.

On Wednesday, official sources of the EC claimed that the commission would invite political parties, experts, scientists and technocrats in the first week of May to try and hack the machines. They said the challenge will be open for a week or 10 days and will have various levels.

It’s not the first time the Delhi CM has raised concerns over the EVM. After facing defeat in Punjab and Goa Assembly elections, Mr Kejriwal had raised doubts about the functioning of the EVMs. He had urged the EC to replace EVMs with ballot papers for fair elections. He had said that even the most advanced country like the US had been using ballot papers for polls. Mr Kejriwal had even thrown a challenge before the EC that his tactical experts were ready to showcase that EVMs were not the safest mode of conducting the fair elections.

Prior to Mr Kejriwal, it was BSP supremo Mayawati who had first raised doubts about the EVMS being used in UP Assembly elections. She raised questions on EVMs soon after her party faced a humiliating defeat by lobbying onto the third slot in the assembly polls. She had even gone on to the extent of saying that those who had voted for her, their ballets got converted into BJP votes.