New Delhi: With 10 days left for the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) challenge, which is scheduled to be held on June 3, the Election Commission on Tuesday invited all the seven national and 49 state parties to participate in it to prove that the machines are not tamper-proof.
The election body had earlier announced that it would invite all national and state-level parties, which had contested the recently concluded Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.
But the EC has kept out smaller registered but unrecognised parties and independent candidates who contested polls in the aforementioned states.
Parties like AAP and BSP were among the first parties that had questioned the reliability of the EVMs after receiving a severe drubbing in the Assembly elections, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. They had alleged that the EVMs were tampered with.
Now, the poll panel has sent letters to all the seven national parties — the BJP, BSP, Congress, CPI, CPI-M, NCP and TMC — and 49 state parties, including the AAP. These parties had asked the Election Commission to revert to the paper ballot system saying the faith of the people had been shaken in the EVMs.
As the AIADMK now has two factions recognised by the poll panel, both have been invited for the challenge.
Each party will get four EVMs of their choice from the five states and four hours to hack. Each team can have a maximum of three persons. However foreign experts have been barred from participating in the challenge.
