Can EVMs be hacked like Hezbollah pagers? CEC Rajiv Kumar responds to Congress

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday junked the Congress party's charge that EVMs can be hacked like the pagers were hacked in Lebanon. Replying to this charge, Kumar said pagers could be hacked because they were connected devices. "EVMs can't be hacked. Pagers are connected, but EVMs are not," he said. 

Earlier today, Congress leader Rashid Alvi said that EVMs could be rigged just like Israel hacked pagers of Hezbollah. 

The CEC dismissed the claims, saying EVMs are "absolutely safe and robust". "Look at the last 15-20 elections. It is giving results after results differently. It can't be that it is wrong only the results are not to your liking," he said. 

The Congress has alleged that its candidates lost in seats where EVMs had a 99 per cent battery charge while those with a charge of 60-70 per cent showed a victory for the party. In its complaint to the EC, the Congress submitted a list of 20 constituencies that showed such a trend.

Responding to the Congress' claim, Kumar said the display unit of the EVM shows "99 per cent" charge till the time the electric potential of the battery is between 7.4 volts and 8 volts. Once the level falls below 7.4 volts, the actual percentage of the charge is displayed. 

The CEC said the display unit shows an indication to change the battery when the battery reaches 5.8 volts. He also said that the battery lasts depending on the usage, like how many votes are cast during the mock poll, how many times the votes are totalled, and the number of votes cast during the poll.

According to the ECI, the control unit (CU) of the EVM has a power pack of 7.5 volts or 8 volts. EVMs run on alkaline batteries so they can be used in areas that do not have electricity. 

The CEC said the commission was preparing a response and it will give it to each candidates who have raised doubts about counting.