Touchy Topic: BJP Leader Miffed With Musk’s Tweet On Voting Machines

NEW DELHI, (IANS) – The debate on whether electronic voting machines (EVMs) can be hacked further heated up between Elon Musk and Rajeev Chandrasekhar on X social media platform on June 16.

When Chandrasekhar a BJP official and former union minister who lost the elections told the tech billionaire that Indian EVMs are custom-designed, secure, and isolated from any network or media, the Tesla CEO replied: “Anything can be hacked”.

Chandrasekhar replied, saying anything is possible with quantum computing and “I can decrypt any level of encryption. With lab-level tech and plenty of resources, I can hack any digital hardware/system including flight controls of a glass cockpit of a jet, etc. But that’s a different type of conversation from EVMs being secure and reliable vis-a-vis paper voting. And we can agree to disagree,” the former minister argued.

Musk had reacted to Puerto Rico’s primary elections which allegedly experienced voting irregularities.

The opposition INDIA bloc reacted immediately. Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “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.”

Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief and Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also reacted similarly.

The opposition has long complained that the Election Commission has not been fair.