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NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday echoed Tesla CEO Elon Musk's concerns about the potential vulnerability of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to hacking.
Calling EVMs a "black box," Rahul Gandhi warned that the lack of accountability in institutions could reduce democracy to a facade, susceptible to fraudulent activities. "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," Gandhi stated in a post on X.
Recently, Elon Musk expressed concerns about electronic voting machines on X, suggesting their elimination due to the risk of hacking by humans or AI, even if the risk is minimal.
Opposition parties in India have long raised concerns over EVMs, demanding a 100 percent count of the VVPAT slips, a request that has not been granted.
However, former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar strongly opposed Musk's statement, calling it a "huge sweeping generalization" lacking accuracy. Chandrasekhar argued that while Musk's perspective might be valid for the US and other countries using regular computing platforms to create "Internet-connected Voting machines," it does not apply to India.
Chandrasekhar emphasized that Indian EVMs are custom-designed, secure, and isolated from any network or media. He even offered to provide Musk with a tutorial on the subject. "This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. @elonmusk's view may apply to US and other places - where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet-connected Voting machines," Chandrasekhar posted on X.
In summary, while Rahul Gandhi aligns with Elon Musk's concerns regarding EVM vulnerabilities, BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar refutes these concerns, highlighting the security measures specific to Indian EVMs. The debate continues as opposition parties call for greater transparency and accountability in the electoral process.