A day after a self-proclaimed cyber expert claimed that EVMs could be ‘hacked’, a huge political storm erupted across the country with the Opposition and ruling parties trading charges against each other prompting the Election Commission of India (ECI) to lodge an FIR against the claimant Syed Shuja.
While the BJP and the Government alleged that the Congress had organised the EVM hackathon in London, Congress alongwith other Opposition parties demanded a proper probe in the matter and reiterated their demand for VVPAT voting.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who was noticed being present at the Press conference where Shuja claimed the 2014 general election was “rigged” through the EVMs, stated that he was there as part of invitation from the organizers and claimed that all the political parties including the election watchdog was invited for the presser in London. The Congress, however, distanced itself from the event.
The BJP dubbed the allegations of rigging in the 2014 polls a “Congress-sponsored conspiracy” designed to “defame” Indian democracy and its Election Commission. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called the claims ‘garbage’ and the next ‘big lie’ after ‘Rafale’,
“Indian Journalists Association London President Ashis Ray told me he has sent invitations to all political parties including BJP and also Election Commission... He (Ashish Ray) sent me a personal e-mail also. I told him that I will be in London for some personal work and he insisted that I should come as they are going to make an important revelation. So I went,” Sibal said. Ray was one of the organisers of the event.
Reiterating Shuja’s claims that a day after the 2014 elections, 11 members of his team which was working on EVMs were murdered, Sibal sought a thorough probe.
The ruling party launched a stinging attack on the Congress and said it has already started looking for an “alibi” for its certain loss in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Union Minister and BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Indian Journalists’ Association is headed by Ashis Ray who is a “committed Congressman and writes for National Herald”.
Ray “campaigns” for the Congress on social media and has often attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prasad claimed, adding that he had also organised Rahul’s public event in London.
Prasad also dismissed Sibal’s claim that he was present in his personal capacity, saying he was intelligent enough to know implications of his being there. He claimed that Sibal went there by deliberate design. He said the invite for the event had claimed that the hacking of EVMs will be shown but the “gentleman” appeared in the US wearing a mask.
“I could not understand this drama. He (Shuja) offered no proof and nor did he present himself to questioning by the media. No evidence, no corroboration and no question and such big allegations were levelled,” he said.
Prasad also expressed his party’s “deep pain” at the allegation in the London event that Union Minister Gopinath Munde was “murdered” because he was aware of the 2014 poll “rigging” and was set to disclose it. He dismissed it as rubbish. Munde died in a road accident in New Delhi weeks after the BJP won the 2014 elections.
Uttar Pradesh rivals BSP’s Mayawati and SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, who have joined hands to contest the Lok Sbaha polls, demanded that the upcoming polls be held using ballot papers instead of EVMs. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu too stated leaders of 22 parties would meet the Election Commission soon to discuss the EVMs and the voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPAT) system.