New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi responded to a tweet on Sunday by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, referring to the EVMs in India as a "black box."
Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, highlighted the risks of hacking Electronic Voting Machines by humans and AI on Saturday. He suggested that "we should eliminate electronic voting machines," citing the risk, though small, as still too high.
Musk's comments came in response to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who quoted an Associated Press report on the Puerto Rico primary elections, arguing that EVMs can be hacked and advocating for America to return to ballot papers.
Rahul Gandhi joined the discussion, stating that "EVMs in India are a 'black box,' and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them." He raised serious concerns about transparency in the electoral process, suggesting that democracy becomes a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability.
In his tweet, Gandhi also shared an image of a media report claiming that a relative of a Shiv Sena candidate, who won the Mumbai north-west seat by 48 votes, had a phone that could unlock an EVM.
Opposition parties have been expressing concerns about EVMs for some time, demanding a 100 percent count of the VVPAT slips, a request that has not been granted.