New Delhi:

Former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who had offered US billionaire Elon Musk a “tutorial” on Indian Electronic Voting Machines, today doubled down on his argument, saying going by the Tesla chief’s logic, “every Tesla car can be hacked”.

Responding to Mr Musk’s claim that “everything can be hacked”, Mr Chandrasekhar, who headed the Union ministry of Electronics and Information Technology during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second tenure, said, “I think he is factually incorrect in saying that”.

“A calculator or a toaster cannot be hacked. Therefore, there is a limit in terms of where this paradigm of hacking can extend,” he told news agency ANI. “He (Elon Musk) is factually wrong… To claim that there cannot be a secure digital product in the world is to then say that every Tesla car can be hacked,” he added.

Mr Musk would be right only if the machines in question are connected like phones or computers, which EVMs are not, Mr Chandrasekhar had earlier argued. “Elon Musk’s view may apply to the US and other places – where they use regular compute platforms to build internet-connected voting machines,” he had said.

“Elon Musk has not understood what the Indian EVM is. Indian EVMs do not lend themselves to being hacked because they are precisely a very limited-intelligence device,” he explained today.

The Tesla chief had set the ball rolling over the weekend with his post questioning the reliability of EVMs.

“We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high,” he had posted on X in response to Independent US Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr’s post on reports that Puerto Rico’s elections saw voting irregularities in hundreds of EVMs.

As the Opposition used the post to support its reservations about EVMs, Mr Chandrasekhar claimed that Mr Musk’s comment was a “huge sweeping generalisation”.

“This is a huge sweeping generalisation statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong,” replied the former minister. “No connectivity, no bluetooth, wifi, Internet; there is no way in. Factory-programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed. Electronic voting machines can be architected and built right as India has done. We would be happy to run a tutorial, Elon,” his post read.

“Anything can be hacked,” shot back Mr Musk.

Coming amid reports that claimed a relative of Ravindra Waikar, Shiv Sena MP from Mumbai North West, was using a phone that could be connected to an EVM, Mr Musk’s comments fuelled massive Opposition criticism.

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi said EVMs in India “are a ‘black box” and “nobody is allowed to scrutinize them”. “Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process,” he added.

“When risks of EVM tampering are being flagged in several elections across the world and well-known technology experts are flagging risks, the BJP must clear the air on why they are bent on using EVMs,” posted Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi flagged the reports on Mumbai election. “This is a fraud at the highest level and yet the @ECISVEEP continues to sleep,” she said in a post on X.

Calls for a return to paper ballot has already been decisively turned down by the Supreme Court, which said the machines offer significant advantages. They have eliminated booth capturing and invalid votes, reduce paper wastage and  expedite the counting process minimizing errors, the judges have said.
   

New Delhi:

First introduced in 2004, electronic voting machines include two units — control and balloting — which are connected by a cable.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has triggered a debate on the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs). While citing concern over potential vulnerabilities of hacking, the tech billionaire, on Saturday, said that the use of electronic voting machines should be eliminated.

Mr Musk on X (formerly Twitter) said, “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.”

We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high. https://t.co/PHzJsoXpLh

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2024

Soon enough former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar countered Mr Musk’s statement claiming it as a “huge sweeping generalisation” which holds no truth. Take a look at his post here:

This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. @elonmusk ‘s view may apply to US n other places – where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines.

But Indian EVMs are custom… https://t.co/GiaCqU1n7O

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar ???????? (@RajeevRC_X) June 16, 2024

After this senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared a post in support of Elon Musk. Calling EVMs a “black box”, Mr Gandhi wrote, “EVMs in India are a ‘black box,’ and nobody is allowed to scrutinise them. Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability.”

EVMs in India are a “black box,” and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them.

Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process.

Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability. https://t.co/nysn5S8DCFpic.twitter.com/7sdTWJXOAb

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 16, 2024

Amidst the online debate, let us take a look at how EVMs work:

Features of EVMs

First introduced in 2004, electronic voting machines include two units — control and balloting — which are connected by a cable. While the control unit stays with a polling officer, the balloting unit is kept inside the compartment where citizens cast their votes.

In a bid to provide privacy to the voters, the authorities make sure that the balloting unit is covered on all sides. At the time of voting, the polling officer after verifying the identity of the citizens presses the ballot button, which enables them to cast their vote.

EVM’s Ballot Unit

The ballot unit carries the names of the candidates and the respective party symbols, along with blue buttons next to them. As per their choices, the voter has to press the blue button of the candidate whom they want to elect.

EVM’s Control Unit

The control unit that stays with the polling officer includes multiple buttons. Of them all, one is titled “ballot”, which is pressed to indicate that the control unit is ready to record a single vote. Every time the officer presses this ballot button, a red light titled “busy” is turned on.

In addition, when the green light on the ballot unit is switched on, it signals that the machine is ready for voting. Then the voter goes on to press the blue button next to the name of the candidate of his/her choice.

It must be noted that the ballot unit also has a Braille script for visually impaired voters.

After a citizen has cast a vote, the control unit emits a beep sound, indicating that the voting is complete. On top of a control unit, there is one LED screen that shows the total number of votes recorded on it.

Once all votes have been recorded on the control unit, the polling officer presses a button on the side, which seals the unit. A button titled “result” is used on the day of counting to calculate all the votes.

Moreover, there is also a “clear” button that can be used to erase all data from the control unit.

Multiple social media users shared a video showing a group of men standing on a goods carrier and purportedly holding EVMs in their hands. The voice in the background, seemingly of the person recording the video, claims that the BJP was openly doing an ‘EVM scam’. The timing of the social media post insinuated that the incident was related to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that an old video dating back to the 2022 UP Assembly polls was shared as recent on social media with false claims. The video actually showed EVMs, which were marked for the training of the counting officials back then.

Claim

A Facebook user shared on May 16 a video of some men standing on a goods carrier, purportedly holding EVMs in their hands. The background audio claimed that it was a scam by the BJP.

Here is the link and archive link to the post.

Investigation

Starting the investigation, the Desk ran the video through InVid Tool Search and found several keyframes. On running one of the keyframes through Google Lens, the Desk found several posts carrying the same video with similar claims. 

Two such posts can be viewed here and here, and their archived versions can be seen here and here respectively.

The video has been widely shared on X too. Three such posts can be seen here, here and here and their archive versions can be seen here, here and here respectively.

The Desk noticed one of the comments on the posts, which mentioned that the video was old.

Taking a cue from this, the Desk conducted a customised keyword search on Google and came across a video on YouTube uploaded by the official channel of Oneindia News on March 9, 2022.

The description of the video read: “The counting of votes for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections is set to begin on Thursday and yet again the EVM issue has been brought out. BJP’s biggest opposition in UP, Samajwadi Party’s chief, Akhilesh Yadav has accused and alleged that EVMs have been stolen from a counting centre in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh.”

Here is the link to the video.

The Desk noticed that this was the extended version of the viral video. 

On further investigating, the Desk came across an X post by the official handle of the CEO Office, Uttar Pradesh carrying a press release giving clarification on the incident.

The caption of the post, in Hindi, read: “Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly General Election – 2022. Press release issued regarding carrying some electronic voting machines in a vehicle in Varanasi district today on 8 March 2022.”

Here is the link.

According to the press release, the report sent by the officer found that the EVMs were marked for training of the counting officers in the district. The EVMs were taken from storage in a separate food warehouse to the training ground at UP College.

Taking a cue from this, the Desk conducted another customised keyword search and came across a report by the Times of India published on March 10, 2022.

The title of the report read, “Uttar Pradesh elections: Row over EVMs ends after clearance of ECI officials.”

Here is the link.

Subsequently, the Desk concluded that a video from an incident dating back to the 2022 UP Assembly polls was shared as recent on social media with false claims.

CLAIM

Video of BJP workers caught taking away EVMs.

FACT

The video dates back to the 2022 UP Assembly polls and is related to an incident in Varanasi. The EVMs in the video were actually marked for the training of counting officials.

CONCLUSION

Several social media users shared a video showing a group of men standing on a goods carrier holding EVMs in their hands. The audio in the background, seemingly the voice of the person recording the video, claimed that the BJP was doing an ‘EVM scam’. In its investigation, the Desk found that the video dated back to 2022 from the time of the Assembly polls in UP, which was shared on social media as recent with false claims.

(This story was originally published by PTI, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking an independent audit of source code of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used by the Election Commission, saying no “actionable material” was placed to indicate that the poll panel was in breach of its “constitutional mandate”. Observing that it will not venture into the “policy issue”, the Supreme Court dismissed the PIL which had also sought a direction to the poll panel to put in the public domain the audit report, if any, of EVM’s source code.

“The Election Commission of India (ECI) is entrusted constitutionally with superintendence and control over the conduct of elections. Presently, the petitioner has placed no actionable material on the record in this court to indicate that the ECI is actually in breach of its constitutional mandate,” a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said in its order.

The bench said the manner in which the source code should be audited and whether the audit report should be placed in public domain falls within the domain of the poll panel.

“On such a policy issue, we are not inclined to issue a direction of this sort which has been sought by the petitioner. There is no material before this court at this stage to indicate that the Election Commission is not taking suitable steps to fulfil its mandate,” the bench said while dismissing the PIL filed by an individual named Sunil Ahya.

The source code is a set of instructions and statements of a programmer using a computer programming language.

The ‘Hash functions’ are used to digest or condense a message down to a fixed size which can then be signed in a way that makes finding other messages with the same hash extremely difficult.

During the brief hearing, the bench referred to certain things related to the functioning of the Supreme Court and said it recently allowed electronic passes for entering into the Supreme Court. “If I start putting out what is source code in public, you know, who will be able to hack that,” the CJI said.

Before filing the petition, PIL petitioner Ahya had made representations to the Election Commission seeking an independent audit of the source code of the EVMs.

“The source code is the brain behind the EVM and it is about survival of democracy,” Ahya said.

Ahya had earlier moved the petition before the general elections in 2019. The court had then said in view of the announcement of the general elections it was not possible to go into the issues raised in the PIL.

It had, however, granted Ahya the liberty to file a fresh plea if a new cause of action arises.

After that, another fresh PIL was instituted and the bench had permitted Ahya to make a representation to the EC.

In the third plea, the PIL petitioner said he also made some representations to the poll panel and was still in the dark on what steps have been taken on the issue.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)