NEW DELHI: High drama and showmanship pervaded the Delhi assembly’s special session on Tuesday, as the Aam Aadmi Party staged a live demonstration on rigging an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).
AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj took to the floor with a dummy EVM and explained the operating mechanism, before displaying how the device can be ‘hacked’ with a ‘secret code’ so as to manipulate the votes polled in it.
“As voters cast their votes they believe their vote goes to the right party. But the person tampering EVMs, posing as a voter, can use secret codes to decide which party will win,” Bhardwaj said.
Citing experience gleaned from a 10 year career as a software engineer, Bhardwaj said his demonstration was meant to show that “any machine can be rigged or hacked.” He simulated polls by casting random number of votes for various candidates after entering the secret code in the EVM. The results showed votes skewed into the BJP’s favour.
“I have seen again and again around the country, several places whoever one votes for, vote goes to only BJP, due to VVPAT. If elections continue to be done through these EVMs there will be no measure of democracy left. Only one party will rule,” Bhardwaj said after the live demonstration.
Earlier in the day, embattled party chief Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted that the AAP MLA would reveal the truth behind a major conspiracy in the country.
The Election Commission (EC) issued a statement saying the machine used by AAP for the demonstration was only a prototype and not an ECI EVM. The EC has time and again rubbished allegations that EVMs can be programmed to favour any particular party, a charge levelled by various political parties, including the AAP, after the assembly election in five states earlier this year.
Following the staging of this live demo in the Delhi assembly, suspended AAP legislator Kapil Mishra, who has accused Arvind Kejriwal of graft, alleged that the act was only a “diversionary tactic” employed by the party to draw attention away from the real issue.
