It's Rajeev Chandrasekhar vs Elon Musk As EVM Debate Makes Post-Poll Comeback

New Delhi: In a strong retort to billionaire businessman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk's fervid call to eliminate Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) over hacking concerns, former union minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar exuded confidence in 'Made In India' EVMs and said that 'hacking' may stand true in countries like the US, but not for India. 

Responding to Musk's comments on EVMs, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said it's a ‘huge sweeping generalization statement'. “This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware,” said the former Union Minister in a post on X. Chandrasekhar said that while Musk's statements may hold true for countries like the United States, it doesn't imply on India. He highlighted that EVMs are connected with internet and Bluetooth, it is not the case with Made in India EVMs.

“Elon Musk's view may apply to US n other places - where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines. But Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media - No connectivity, no bluetooth, wifi, Internet. ie there is no way in. Factory programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed,” said Chandrasekhar. 

He even offered a tutorial on manufacturing of EVMs to Musk. “Electronic voting machines can be architected and built right as India has done. We wud be happy to run a tutorial Elon,” he added. To this, Musk said that anything can be hacked. 

What Musk Said on EVMs?

Tesla CEO and businessman Elon Musk called for the elimination of Electronic Voting Systems (EVM). Musk said that in the times of Artificial Intelligence, the risk of EVM hacking could be high. He had made the comments while responding to the reports of voting inconsistencies in the United States. “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high,” said Musk in a post on X. His response came following allegations of irregularities in Puerto Rico's election. 

It has been alleged that Puerto Rico’s primary elections witnessed hundreds of voting irregularities related to EVMs, reported the Associated Press. After reports of irregularities, Puerto Rico’s elections commission has launched a probe into the contract between the commission and the voting machine company of the United States.

What Are EVMs? 

As gradually the world shifted towards technology-based equipment, ballot papers were replaced by Electronic Voting Machines in the election process of most of the countries. EVMs, generally, are a machine which has multiple buttons and enables voters to choose the button of their choice.  

EVMs have two units- control unit and balloting unit - both of which are joined by cables. While the balloting unit is used for voting, the control unit is kept in security with the presiding officer. It also has a VVPAT attached to it which enables paper trail.