EVM hackathon challenge from June 3: Election Commission's conditions and all details
New Delhi : Amid severe criticism from several political leaders, the Election Commission of India on Saturday decided to hold the ‘EVM hackathon challenge’ from June 3 onwards.
The Commission on Saturday held a demonstration of the EVMs equipped with VVPAT machines to prove its point that they cannot tampered with or manipulated either at the manufacturing stage or during polling, storing and counting.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced the schedule for the 'EVM Challenge' under a framework of conditions decided by the Commission. Those unable to prove their point will be dubbed to have failed the test.
He said it will be open to the national and state parties which took part in the recent elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur and claimed that the EVMs were tampered or could be tampered even under the poll panel's safeguards.
The exercise may last four-five days depending on the number of parties expressing interest. A decision will be taken whether to allow the media to witness it, he said.
What are the challenges?
Challenge 1: The doubters should prove that the EVMs used in the five states were tampered to favour a candidate or a party by altering their results stored in the EVMs after the polls.
The claimants will have to alter the results in the Control Units used during these polls in exactly the same scenario as the EVMs remaining within the safeguards of the EC after the polls.
This covers the period of storage in strong rooms or during counting by pressing a combination of keys on Control Unit (CU) and Balloting Unit (BU) or by communication to CU or BU or both via external wireless or bluetooth or mobile phone.
Challenge 2: The naysayers to prove that the EVMs used in the five states were tampered before or during polling.
The claimants will have to alter the results in the EVMs used during the polls in exactly the same scenario as the EVMs remain within the safeguards of the Commission before the poll in strongrooms or during polling.
If the results are found contrary to the manner in which mock poll was conducted, the challenger would be declared as successful. However, he would be deemed to have failed if the mock poll results are accurate as per the voting. The challenger would also be declared unsuccessful if the EVM turns inoperative following the attempt to tamper it.
Terms and Conditions for EVM Hackathon Challenge: The candidate will not be allowed to change or manipulate the circuit of EVM.
“In the challenge, we cannot allow participants to change the circuit. Because changing the circuit means manufacturing a new machine. It is common sense, after changing the circuit of any device it is totally tampered. It cannot be an ECI EVM then.”
AAP had organised an EVM hack-demo in the Delhi assembly earlier in the month, using a an ‘EVM look-alike’ to prove how results could be tampered.
(with IANS inputs)
