BJP Leader Reacts to Elon Musk’s Warning About Poll Stealing in EVMs
Chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk has cautioned against the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), citing potential hacking vulnerabilities. In light of claims of anomalies in Puerto Rico’s most recent primary elections, his comments coincide with an increase in global discussions concerning the security of electronic voting machines (EVMs).
“Electronic voting machines should be banned. Even if it is unlikely, there is still too much risk of being hacked by AI or humans “Mr. Musk wrote on X.
We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high. https://t.co/PHzJsoXpLh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2024
The recent controversies in Puerto Rico have brought EVM security under closer scrutiny. Numerous anomalies connected to electronic voting machines marred the primary elections there. Election officials were able to identify and adjust vote tallies, nevertheless, thanks to a paper trail.
“Puerto Rico’s primary elections just experienced hundreds of voting irregularities related to electronic voting machines, according to the Associated Press,” wrote Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent candidate for the US Senate in 2024 and the nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy. Mr. Musk responded to this statement. Fortunately, a paper trail was kept, which allowed for the identification and correction of the vote tallies. What occurs in areas where there is not a paper trail?
In order to ensure that every vote is counted and elections remain secure, Kennedy Jr. argued for a return to paper ballots and against electronic interference in elections.
While concerns over EVMs are gaining traction in the United States, the scenario in India presents a contrasting picture. India uses the third generation of EVMs, known as M3 EVMs, which are designed to be tamper-proof. If there are any indications of tampering, these machines enter a “Safety Mode” and stop working.
Mr. Musk’s claim was refuted by former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who called it a “huge, sweeping generalisation” that is untrue.
“Building secure digital hardware is impossible, according to this broad, generalization statement. False,” retorted the former clergyman. “There is no way in; there is no connectivity, bluetooth, wifi, or Internet. controllers that are factory programmed and cannot be reprogrammed. As demonstrated by India, electronic voting machines can be properly designed and constructed. Thank you, Elon, for offering to conduct a tutorial.
Mr. Musk retorted, “Anything can be hacked.”
The most recent improvements to Indian EVMs have been made possible by a committed group of academics from three esteemed Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Strong and secure electronic voting machines (EVMs) are guaranteed by the distinguished Technical Expert Committee (TEC) on EVMs, which supports the Election Commission of India (ECI).
IIT Bombay expert in solid-state electronics and microelectronics, Professor Dinesh K. Sharma, told NDTV that “Indian EVMs are different from other EVMs in the world.” Nothing, not even the mains power supply, is connected to the M3 EVMs.”
Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines produce paper slips that can be used for cross-verification of votes cast on electronic voting machines. This year, the Supreme Court took up this issue. Keeping the current practice of verifying five randomly selected EVMs per Assembly constituency, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta rejected petitions seeking 100% cross-verification.
