Two days after BJP won the assembly elections in the States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Digvijaya Singh resorted to peddling conspiracy theories surrounding the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM).
In a tweet on Tuesday (5th December), the veteran Congress leader claimed, “Any machine with a chip can be hacked. I have opposed voting by EVM since 2003.”
“Can we allow our Indian Democracy to be controlled by Professional hackers! This is the fundamental question which all political parties have to address to,” he further alleged.
He then made a heartfelt appeal to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Supreme Court to defend Indian democracy. While Digvijaya Singh was disseminating the ‘EVM hack theory’, he conveniently forgot that his party won the Telangana assembly election that was conducted through EVM.
The claims made by the veteran Congress leader were debunked by the ECI in a press release in April 2017. Rajat Moona, a member of technical expert panel on EVMs, had also reiterated in 2018 that the Electronic Voting Machines cannot be rigged.
The Election Commission of India had even organised a ‘hackathon’ for EVM conspiracy theorists but none showed up for the event. After the dismal performance of the Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Digvijaya Singh has decided to blame the EVMs instead of course correction.
Sanjay Raut casts aspersions on EVMs
On Monday (4th December), Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut courted controversy by casting aspersions on the integrity of the Electronic Voting Machines.
While speaking to ANI, the Shiv Sena UBT (Udhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader claimed, “The public mandate in Telangana is different from that of 3 other States…The BJP has won big this year. We welcome the mandate even though EVM delivered it.”
“We always say that and people too have their suspicions – How is this result even possible, especially in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh? We say that if people have doubts (about the results), then, you must resolve them. Conduct one election on the ballot paper. Just one and resolve the public’s doubts.,” Raut brazened out.
“We demand one election on the ballot paper, whether Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha. After that, there will be no scope for people to question EVM,” he claimed, knowing well India’s history of misuse of ballot papers during elections.
Sanjay Raut however did not explain how its ally, Congress, managed to win in Telangana using the same Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).