EC should let people prove secretly if EVMs can be hacked: Bharti

Amid the ongoing controversy over the efficacy of EVMs, Union minister Uma Bharti Tuesday said the Election Commission (EC) should let people secretly prove if the machines can be tampered with or not.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, who herself once opposed the EVMs, added that many countries in the world, including the US, were not using Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) despite being much advanced technologically and scientifically as compared to India.

The statement comes in the wake of the Congress raising doubts over the security of EVMs which contain the votes cast in the November 28 election for the 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh.

 

"Once the EC had invited all political parties to prove if EVMs can be tampered with. But it did this openly and nobody came forward."

"Therefore, if someone wants to share secretly with it (EC) (if tampering is possible), then it should maintain the confidentiality of that person," she told reporters at her official residence here.

"Because there are many countries in the world, like America, which are much ahead of us in the field of science and technology, but they are not using EVMs. We have experimented with the EVMs and if political parties have any doubts, then it is the duty of the EC to take everyone along and satisfy them," she said.

"Whatever the issues, they should be addressed. Otherwise, these doubts may escalate and threaten the country's democratic system," the Union Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister said.

"The EC should also understand what types of errors may take place. If there is an error and someone points that out in case of two-three assembly seats then the EC should look into it," Bharti said further.

After the recently-concluded Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, the Congress had petitioned the EC alleging errors in the safety and security of EVMs.

However, the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V L Kantha Rao had clarified that all the machines had reached the strongrooms by the morning of November 29.

"These strongrooms were locked in the presence of candidates, observers and other officials," he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, MP Congress chief Kamal Nath also met the CEC in Delhi over the issue and demanded that EVMs should be protected in a secured place and counting should be done in an impartial and fair manner.