"Every vote is precious": As anti-EVM event goes on in London, Mamata Banerjee reiterates Opposition stance against voting machine

Even as the EVM hackathon is going on in London, Mamata Banerjee who held a united opposition rally on January 19, has said that all parties present in the event have decided to take up the matter of EVMs with Election Commission.

Several opposition groups including Congress, AAP have constantly claimed that EVMs are hacked or were being tampered with. Congress leader and MP CM Kamal Nath, during the Madhya Pradesh polls, had alleged that EVMs were not secured during the state assembly polls.

Mamata Banerjee tweeted on the EVM issue saying:

"Our great democracy must be protected. Every vote of yours is precious. All Opposition parties discussed the EVM issue after the United India Brigade rally. We are working closely together and decided on Jan 19 itself to consistently take up the matter with EC. Yes, every vote counts."

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On Saturday, the likes of opposition leaders including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former HD Deve Gowda, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka CM's N Chandrababu Naidu, Arvind Kejriwal, HD Kumaraswamy, former chief ministers Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) MK Stalin were present at the mega opposition rally, held at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata in an attempt to show their unity against the present government at the Centre ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

However, three political bigwigs including Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi as well as BSP supremo Mayawati snubbed the event and failed to their strength of unity at the mega event. Although they send their party's representatives to attend the event. 

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A  tech company in an event organised by Indian Journalist Association is conducting a session on Monday where it claims it will prove that EVMs are hackable in London. The hackathon organiser had met Rahul Gandhi in 2018. Congress leader Kapil Sibal is also present at the event.

The hacker has claimed that Electoral Cooperation of India had asked him to demonstrate that the EVMs can be hacked. He has also said that he was part of the team which designed EVMs in 2014.

He has claimed that his team was killed in Hyderabad in 2014 when they were there to meet BJP leader.

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