"Believe in Election Commission, more than Elon Musk": BJP's Shazia Ilmi after Rahul Gandhi calls EVMs "black box"

New Delhi [India], June 16 : After Congress MP Rahul Gandhi called Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) a "black box", Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shazia Ilmi asserted that EVMs cannot be "tampered with", adding that she would believe in the Election Commission rather than Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The BJP leader further said that questioning the integrity of EVMs also suggests that he is questioning his own victory.
"The truth is that everyone knows that EVM cannot be tampered with, it cannot be hacked. This is a standalone machine in which there is a chip, a programmable chip, it does not work through the internet, so hacking is not possible. And see, if I have to believe someone as a citizen of the country, then I will believe the Supreme Court of my country and the Election Commission of India more than Elon Musk. I will believe in ECIL or Bharat Electronics who have been building these machines...We can give tutorials to Elon Musk as well," Ilmi said speaking to ANI on Sunday.
"When the entire matter was settled and the Samajwadi Party got a good number of seats in UP, even though the Congress party could not score a century but their score improved, even then they are questioning and raising suspicions on their own victory. Rahul Gandhi, when he calls EVM a black box and formally confirms what Elon Musk has said, by doing so he is questioning his own victory," Ilmi said.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi described EVMs "black box" and said that serious concerns are being raised about transparency in the country's electoral process.
"EVMs in India are a "black box," and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them. Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability," he said in a post on 'X'.
After a report by a Mumbai-based newspaper stated that Shiv Sena leader Ravindra Waikar's relative was carrying a mobile phone inside a counting centre in Maharashtra's Goregaon that was allegedly used for generating the OTP that unlocked the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), the Returning Officer dispelled such reports and clarified that no OTP (One Time Password) on mobile is needed for unlocking EVMs.
"There is no OTP (One Time Password) on mobile for unlocking EVM as it is non programmable and it has no wireless communication capabilities. It is a complete lie being spread by a newspaper, which is being used by some leaders to create false narrative," Vandana Suryavanshi, the Returning Officer of 27 Mumbai North West Parliamentary Constituency said in a press conference on Sunday.
The Returning Officer further stated that the incident at Mumbai North West Constituency Counting Centre is regarding unauthorisedly using mobile phone of an authorized person by a candidate's aide."Criminal case has already been filed by the Returning Officer," she added.
Asserting the efficacy of EVMs in conducting polls, Suryavanshi said, "EVMs are stand alone devices without any wired or wireless connectivity with units outside EVM system. Advanced technical features and robust administrative safeguards are in place to rule out any possibility of manipulation. Safeguards include conducting everything in the presence of candidates or their agents."
Sharing details about counting of votes through postal ballot, the Returning Officer said, "Counting of ETPBS (Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System) happens in physical form (paper ballots) and not electronics as being spread through false narratives."
"Every counting sheet at every table for ETPBS and EVM counting and postal ballot counting (including ETPBS) is signed by all counting agents after due diligence," she added.
The Returning Officer further stated that proceedings are on against the newspaper for "spreading rumours maligning Indian voters and the electoral system."
In a sharp counter to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's criticism of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said that they can be architected and built right as India has done.
He further called out Musk in a post on X, saying that India "would be happy to run a tutorial" for the same."This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. @elonmusk's view may apply to the US n other places - where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet-connected Voting machines," Chandrasekhar said in a post on X.
Sketching out the example of the Indian EVMs, the former Union Minister said that they are "custom-designed, secure and isolated from any network or media."He said, "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.""Electronic voting machines can be architected and built right as India has done. We would be happy to run a tutorial Elon," the Minister said.