[The charges made, by a self-proclaimed hacker, are pretty serious and more than deserves a credible and thorough investigation. Nothing less.
As far as the next parliamentary poll is concerned, no major change in the poll arrangement appears to be feasible, given the available window. What, however, is very much possible and must be done is to mandatorily match the EVM results with those of the corresponding VVPATs in sufficient number of randomly chosen booths, not less than at leat 10%. In case of any discrepancy, ther VVPAT slips must be counted for the whole constituency. The present practice of doing it for only one booth per constituency is just mere tokeninsim. Just an eyewash.] I/III. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/restoring-faith-in-evms/article24454258.ece?fbclid=IwAR2GBRiWfXdVhPl_T1UIHrrbZHrWlpwqRxCWAAZ9ArCU1axm8YSivq51Wf4 Restoring faith in EVMs Americai V. Narayanan JULY 19, 2018 00:15 IST UPDATED: JULY 18, 2018 22:41 IST Bringing a few procedural changes in the voting and counting process will help On July 17, several Opposition parties decided to discuss the issue of malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the current Monsoon Session of Parliament and place a joint demand to the Election Commission (EC) to use ballot papers in the upcoming Assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Incidentally, in a recent interview, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O.P. Rawat ruled out the option of reverting to ballot papers. EVMs are being made a “scapegoat” because they “cannot speak”, he said. While writing off the concerns about EVMs in such a sweeping manner is contentious, Mr. Rawat is partially right. One of the main reasons the functioning of EVMs is being questioned is, ironically, the EC itself. Questioning the EC’s propriety The Narendra Modi government has been accused of undermining various constitutional institutions including the EC. In contrast to the time when T.N. Seshan as CEC firmly established the EC as an independent authority by rigorously bringing in revolutionary reforms, the body has lost some sheen in the last few years. Former Gujarat Chief Secretary Achal Kumar Jyoti was appointed the CEC in July 2017, months before the crucial Gujarat elections. In a peculiar decision, the EC chose not to announce dates for the Gujarat elections but announced dates for the Himachal Pradesh elections which were to be held at the same time. This conveniently allowed the Prime Minister to announce some new sops and schemes for Gujarat which he would not have been able to do if the dates had been announced. The inept management of elections by the ECI, as seen in the December 2017 R.K. Nagar by-election in Chennai in which there was distribution of cash and in the seizure of fake electoral ID cards in the R.R. Nagar constituency in Bengaluru, has brought into question the Commission’s propriety. It has also cast a shadow on the integrity of EVMs. ALSO READ The ELCs will familiarise students with EVMs and VVPAT. File Photo A look inside the electronic voting machine The intermittent reports of malfunctioning EVMs have intensified the gloom. For instance, data obtained under the RTI revealed that votes cast for an Independent candidate went to the BJP candidate in the February 2017 polls to the Buldhana zilla parishad in Maharashtra. In a democracy, there is perhaps nothing more important than the credibility of the electoral process. Many Opposition parties have asked for a return to the ballot paper. As one of the earliest proponents of the EVM and as someone who has worked as a counting agent in the chaotic ballot paper era, I am stunned at the misplaced sense of confidence that political parties are showing in ballot papers. There are several problems that political parties and counting agents face while dealing with ballot papers. When the election is seen to be swinging in favour of one party, the agents of the perceived winning party create havoc. EVMs have brought a certain structure that did not exist during the ballot paper days when a large number of invalid votes would often be higher than the margin of victory. Interestingly, even in the ballot paper era, there were often bizarre theories. One of them was the ‘Russian ink’ theory when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister. Opposition parties then ridiculously alleged that “special ink” was being imported by the government to stamp ballot papers that would favour the Congress. Some suggestions Rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater, a couple of procedural changes will bring in credibility to the voting process. The EC has already operationalised the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) with an attached printer that will provide a paper trail for those who have cast their votes. At present, after casting the vote in EVMs, the printed paper is directly dropped in the box (the voter only has seven seconds to see this). Instead, the paper should be given to the voter who should then drop it in the ballot box. This was the procedure before the introduction of EVMs. In the current system, to ask for a counting of ballots from the VVPAT, one has to move the courts. Instead, the ECI should introduce a new procedure wherein the manual counting of the printed ballots has to be done before announcing the result if the difference between the winner and the loser is less than, say, 10%, and the loser demands a recount. In a democracy, elections should not only be fair but should be seen to be fair. By shoring up its image and bringing in some more transparent reforms, the EC can restore faith in elections. Americai V. Narayanan is a Tamil Nadu Congress Committee spokesperson and an AICC member. Twitter handle: @americai II/III. https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/evm-hackathon-london-us-expert-congress-kapil-sibal-can-evms-be-hacked-india-bjp-2019-lok-sabha-elections/351332?fbclid=IwAR28NXVz9WnI7LlYszFK6ldmwJL55Gg0gib4-Cz-1CFZv6pvQ4sWvkfdTys EVM hacking: US hacker claims Gopinath Munde was murdered, 2014 polls were rigged; EC mulling legal actionIndia Updated Jan 21, 2019 | 21:05 IST | Times Now Digital Months ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, a self-proclaimed US-based cyber expert has claimed that the "entire" 2014 polls were "rigged". The 'EVM hackathon' event was held in London. EVM hacking london Screengrab from video | Photo Credit: Times Now London: In a shocking claim, a self-proclaimed US-based cyber expert on Monday alleged that BJP leader Gopinath Munde was murdered in 2014 because 'he knew about electronic voting machines (EVM) hacking'. Addressing a press conference in London via Skype, Syed Shuja, the expert who claims to have designed the EVMs used in India, also claimed that the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections were rigged. The event, which took place in London, was organised by the Indian Journalists' Association (Europe) and attended by senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal. Notably, the Election Commission of India has always maintained that the EVMs used in India cannot be tampered with. The BJP has rejected the expert's claim that the 2014 General Election was rigged and called his allegation as a "hacking horror show organised" by the Congress. Meanwhile, the Congress said charges made at the event are serious. "I can't vouch for them, can't deny it either," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India issued a statement, calling the UK hackathon event a "motivated slugfest". EVMs are foolproof in nature, reiterated the EC. EVM hacking EC statement EVM hackathon in London: Here are the sensational claims made by Syed Shuja: It is not possible to hack a machine using Bluetooth. A graphite-based transmitter is required to get into an EVM. The transmitters were used in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, said expert Syed Shuja. The expert has claimed that someone was pinging the EVMs to manipulate data. He added that successive chief election commissioners have told him that EVMs cannot communicate wirelessly. However, "our tech allows you to do it using a modulator at low frequency at 7hz". This is a military grade frequency. He claimed that he met a BJP leader in 2014 who knew about this. He further alleged that his team members were killed in an attack after they approached the BJP leader. Gopinath Munde was aware of hacking and he was murdered as he was about to "expose" the government, claimed the expert. Munde, the leader from Maharashtra, had died in a road accident in June 2014. The expert also claimed that they stopped the transmission in Delhi and the elections were won by the Aam Aadmi Party. In Delhi Assembly Elections, the transmission initiated by the BJP IT was intercepted. "We changed the frequency to favour AAP. The actual results were similar to 2009." The expert said they even tried to intercept the low-frequency transmission. He added that the BJP IT has a prototype and when challenged, they "use a machine that even we can't hack". The "entire" 2014 Lok Sabha Elections were "rigged", claimed Syed Shuja. he also alleged that elections in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat were also rigged. Syed Shuja alleged that slain journalist Gauri Lankesh had agreed to run the story for him, but she was murdered. Lankesh was killed after she filed an RTI to know who manufactured cables used in the EVMs, he claimed. Syed Shuja alleged that Reliance Communications aided the BJP to get low-frequency signals to hack EVMs. “Reliance Communications have the network to transmit the data, BJP is the beneficiary. There are nine places in India where there are facilities. The employees don’t know that they are tampering with EVMs. They think they are doing data entry,” he claimed. Who is Syed Shuja? Not much information is available on the man who claimed to have designed the Electronic Voting Machines that are used in India. At the press conference in London today, Shuja said that he is a former employee of the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL). The EVMs in India are manufactured in the ECIL in Hyderabad and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) in Bengaluru under very strict conditions. The ECIL had received orders for 1.91 lakh ballot units and 1.25 lakh controlling units for the purpose of 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. III. https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/evm-hackathon-five-claims-made-by-us-based-cyber-expert-syed-shuja-and-the-contradictions/352086?fbclid=IwAR2El3cDT7clNKJkc5bR1T5fFe1EK5Z6d9GHrqFrYBk9TZHzlbKC_dk4vh0 EVM hackathon: Five claims made by US-based ‘cyber expert’ Syed Shuja and the contradictions India News Updated Jan 22, 2019 | 19:06 IST | Times Now Bureau The Election Commission of India on Tuesday asked the Delhi Police to file an FIR against Syed Shuja and probe the claims made by him in London. EVMs Syed Shuja File image | Photo Credit: PTI New Delhi: A US-based self-proclaimed cyber expert Syed Shuja on Monday triggered a storm by claiming India’s electronic voting machines could be hacked using a graphite-base military-grade transmitter. The claims were slammed by most parties and experts in India, including those who have been alleging the tampering of the voting machines to favour a particular party. In fact, the Election Commission of India on Tuesday asked the Delhi Police to file an FIR in the matter and probe the claims made by Shuja in London. "Through media reports, it has come to the notice of the Commission that allegedly one Mr Syed Shuja claimed (at the event in London) that he was part of the EVM design team and he can hack the EVMs used in elections in India," the EC said in a letter written to the police. While rejecting Shuja’s claims that he could hack the EVMs used in elections in India, the EC said it was not possible to tamper with EVMs. Here are some of the claims made by Shuja and why there are inherently contradictory: Claim 1: 2014 General Elections were rigged by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Contradiction: Election Commission has dismissed the claims as motivated as no proof has been presented. Also, the coalition in power at the Centre at that time (and responsible for smooth execution of General Elections being held by the Election Commission) was the UPA which was headed by the Congress party. Claim 2: Syed Shuja claimed he had worked at the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), which manufactures EVMs, from 2009-14. Contradiction: The ECIL told the ECI in a letter on Tuesday that Syed Shuja was never on the rolls of the firm. Also, he was not involved in the design process of the EVMs. Claim 3: Noted journalist and social activist Gauri Lankesh was killed for trying to expose the EVM rigging by publishing a story. Contradiction: There is no proof to substantiate that claim as the Special Investigation Team probing the murder case hasn't found any such link so far. Claim 4: Low-frequency signals were used to hack EVMs remotely. Contradiction: The ECI has stated that since EVMs are standalone devices and have no wireless connectivity, they can't be hacked remotely. Claim 5: Union Minister Gopinath Munde's death in June 2014 was no accident but a murder carried out because he knew about the EVM-rigging. Contradiction: The Central Bureau of Investigation, which probed the case, had ruled out foul play in the BJP leader’s death in a road accident. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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