Days after Opposition's 'ban EVM' cry, group patronised by Rahul Gandhi holds EVM hackathon; fearmongers from London in presence of Kapil Sibal

An event organised by the Indian Journalists' Association (Europe) was held on Monday wherein an EVM expert from the U.S. made massive claims regarding elections in India, stating that the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as well as the 2018 five-state polls were rigged.

The proceedings, held just a few months ahead of the much-awaited General elections in India, had senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal in attendance. In fact, last year in August, Congress President Rahul Gandhi had held an interaction with the organisers of this event. 

It was claimed by the EVM expert in the event that a number of political parties, including Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP), Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) approached him in the past to know if the EVMs could be hacked.

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While demonstrating, experts who designed the EVMs in India claimed that along with Lok Sabha elections 2014, state elections of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat were also rigged.

The event was held just a couple of days after the 'show of unity' of the Opposition parties at West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's rally in Kolkata. The Mahagathbandhan had cried foul of EVMs on Saturday, accusing the BJP of tampering with the voting machines.

At the mega rally organised by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, NC chief Farooq Abdullah called EVM a 'chor machine' demanding to bring back the ballot paper system. 

He said, "The EVM is chor machine. Honestly speaking, it is so. Its use must be put to an end. Nowhere in the world is the machine used. The opposition parties should approach the Election Commission and the President of India to stop the use of the EVM and bring back the old ballot papers for the sake of transparency," he said. 

Making EVMs the poll plank, the grand alliance is pushing to evaluate the EVMs. The committee comprises of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Abhishek Manu Singhvi of Congress, BSP's Satish Mishra and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. 

Following the end of the event, the Election Commission took cognizance of the claims and issued a statement. The poll commission reiterated its stance that the EVMs cannot be hacked, and promised to take legal action against the ones who are claiming the same.

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