The AAP today gave a point-by- point "demonstration" on ways to rig an "electronic voting machine" during the one-day special session of the Delhi Assembly, and said the EVMs are "threat to the democracy".
The "demonstration" on EVM-tampering was made by party's Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj inside the Assembly who claimed there is "no machine in the world that cannot be rigged".
The AAP MLA also claimed the party can hack all EVMs, to be used in the Gujarat Assembly polls, within three hours and can ensure the BJP does not win even a single booth, let alone a seat.
Bhardwaj, who was a software engineer before joining politics, said it takes "90 seconds" to change the motherboard of EVMs and that all votes can be polled in favour of a particular political party.
The "demonstration" on EVMs won't attract legal action as legislators enjoy legal immunity inside House.
The "electronic voting machines" Bhardwaj made the demonstration on was a prototype assembled by a group of IITians, AAP sources said.
The AAP's attempt to whip up the issue comes at a time when it is in the eye of a political storm after its sacked minister Kapil Mishra's' allegations of corruption against Kejriwal and minister Satyendar Jain.
Social activist V V Rao, RJD Leader Manoj Jha, CPI (M) Nilotpal Basu, leaders of Trinamul Congress were present on the gallery of the House when Bhardwaj staged the demo.
"Hackers can use simple codes of EVMs to make any candidate win. This can be done by changing motherboard of the the EVM. With this code, anyone can change the result of votes for that particular machines.
"I tell you that an EVM can also be reset to show how the machine that can pass the test on a polling day can be tweaked during the voting process," the Bhardwaj told the House.
The 38-year-old legislator, who claimed he has worked with multi-national companies in his career, said he was not making baseless allegations on EVM manipulation.
"With this demonstration, it has been proved that how EVMs can be hacked...EVMs manipulation is a very serious issue. It is threat to the democracy of the country. There is no machine in the world, which cannot be hacked," he said.
During the demonstration, Bhardwaj showed that how votes polled in favour of AAP can be transfered to the BJP.
According to Bhardwaj, of 10 votes polled in favour of AAP during the demonstration eight went to the BJP.
"I have an experience of 10 years in technology and engineering, and I had quit in 2013," the AAP MLA said at the begning of his "tampering master demonstration".
Bhardwaj said that despite the four-year gap, he can show the people exactly how an EVM can be hacked.
"EVM tampering is a very serious issue because several freedom fighters had sacrificed their lives for the freedom of this country. EVMs, which were given up by several countries, are now being used in our country," Bhardwaj said.
Using the analogy of cricket match-fixing, the AAP MLA said people earlier would not believe this can be done but they had to believe eventually.
"People are making fun of us today. But I want to tell that EVM manipulation is a bitter truth which sooner or later have to be accepted," he said.
The Election Commission, which maintains that EVMs cannot be programmed to favour any party, did not officially react. However, sources said the machine "did not" seem to be among the ones that are used during elections.
"It was a drama enacted by the AAP to divert attention of the public from the allegations of bribery and forgery in funding," Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said.
Before Bhardwaj's demonstration, Kejriwal had tweeted, "Saurabh Bhardwaj will reveal the truth behind a big conspiracy in the country. Satyameva Jayate".
Bhardwaj claimed that in his capacity as an engineer, he had extensively worked in this area and was aware of how the machines can be fiddled with.
After entering a "secret code", Bhardwaj pressed 10 votes for the AAP in the machine used for the purpose of demonstration. Later, in the display panel, it turned out that votes went to the BJP.
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