In Rajiv Kumar’s EVM Defence, A Point out Of Two Elon Musk Posts: ‘We Comply with Narratives That Go well with Us’ – News18

Final Up to date:January 07, 2025, 15:45 IST

Kumar referred to Elon Musk’s feedback that EVMs might be hacked, which created a pandemonium in India. Musk later acknowledged India’s electoral system the place all votes have been counted in a single day.

Whereas asserting the schedule of Delhi Meeting elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar tried to dispel the notions of Digital Voting Machines (EVMs) being hacked by recalling tech mogul Elon Musk’s remarks final yr that added gas to the hearth surrounding the controversy on EVM credibility.

The ballot panel chief began answering the questions raised in opposition to alleged electoral roll, EVMs and voter turnout manipulation utilizing his ordinary model of Shayaris, starting by saying, “Aaj Jawab Toh Banta Hai.”

With out mentioning his title, Kumar referred to Elon Musk’s earlier remarks calling for EVMS to be “eradicated” as they have been on the threat of being hacked by people or synthetic intelligence. Musk had asserted that paper ballots have been essential for sincere and honest elections.

“It’s a misconceived narrative. A world IT skilled stated EVMs might be hacked whereas our elections have been occurring. They (America) don’t have EVMs, they’ve digital voting mechanisms. The remarks created a pandemonium right here. The identical skilled later stated that India takes a single day to complete counting whereas the US takes over a month. We simply observe the narratives which might be suiting,” Kumar stated on the presser.

The Chief Election Commissioner staunchly defended the voting system and rubbished the opposition’s claims of EVM tampering. After the lately held Maharashtra elections, considerations have been raised by opposition events over the surge in voter turnout post-evening.

“EVMs are tamper-proof. They bear scrutiny at each stage. From commissioning, which takes place round 7-8 days earlier than polling day, to counting, the EVMs are by no means out of the sight of the candidate and officers even as soon as and at each step, political get together brokers and candidates are knowledgeable,” he stated, including that there was no query of hacking or rigging an EVM.

What Did Elon Musk Say On EVMs?

In June, simply after the Lok Sabha elections that noticed Prime Minister Narendra Modi returning to a historic third time period in India, Elon Musk made headlines by calling for the “elimination” of EVMs. “We must always eradicate digital voting machines. The danger of being hacked by people or AI, whereas small, remains to be too excessive,” he stated on X.

Responding to the comment, former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar known as Musk’s considerations a “enormous sweeping generalisation” and stated Indian EVMs are custom-designed, safe and remoted from any community or media with no connectivity.

“This can be a enormous sweeping generalization assertion that means nobody can construct safe digital {hardware}. Fallacious. Elon Musk’s view might apply to the US and different locations – the place they use common compute platforms to construct Web-connected Voting machines,” Chandrasekhar wrote.

In the meantime, Rahul Gandhi additionally reacted to Musk’s tweet, calling EVM the ‘black field’ that no one is allowed to scrutinise. “Critical considerations are being raised about transparency in our electoral course of. Democracy finally ends up turning into a sham and vulnerable to fraud when establishments lack accountability,” he added. The opposition events have been elevating considerations over EVMs for a very long time and alleged EVM tampering within the Meeting elections in Haryana and Maharashtra final yr.

Elon Musk’s Comment On Vote-Counting In India

Weeks after the US presidential election went in favour of President-elect Donald Trump, Musk praised the Indian electoral system and its skill to ship the end result of an election in a day, whereas additionally taking a jibe on the course of within the US the place the ballot is but to be known as in California.

“India counted 640 million votes in 1 day. California remains to be counting votes,” Musk stated in November, whereas responding to an X publish that shared a information article with the Headline “How India Counted 640 Million Votes in a Day”.

Chandrasekhar additionally responded to this tweet, itemizing the options that made India a contemporary democracy. “Unhackable EVMs, Voter IDs, Biometric DigitalIDs – necessities of a Massive, trendy Democracy that India is,” he stated.

Delhi Election Schedule Introduced

The Election Fee of India (ECI) on Tuesday introduced that the Delhi Meeting election shall be held in a single section on February 5 and the votes shall be counted on February 8. With this, the Mannequin Code of Conduct (MCC) got here into power.

In Delhi, the ruling Aam Aadmi Social gathering (AAP) is vying a 3rd consecutive time period whereas the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) are hoping to cease the Arvind Kejriwal get together within the polls. The Congress get together can also be within the fray however goes alone this time in opposition to its Lok Sabha polls’ ally AAP.

Over 1.55 crore electors are registered to vote in Delhi, together with 2.08 lakh first-time voters aged 18–19 years, as per the electoral roll printed by the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer.