New Delhi: Lok Sabha election results are out. Even the government was formed but the EVM controversy did not stop. Politics has once again heated up in India regarding EVMs. The government and the opposition are facing each other. The Election Commission itself will have to come forward and give an explanation. Now the question is why the commotion over EVMs after the elections? So the answer is that the smoke of the political fire on EVMs in India has risen from a distance of about 7 thousand kilometers. Yes, this uproar is happening in India amidst the questions being raised on the use of EVMs in elections in America. Ever since Elon Musk advocated the removal of EVMs on Facebook, the opposition in India has also jumped into the fray.
In fact, questions have been raised about EVMs in primary elections in America. In Puerto Rico, there has been a misunderstanding in EVMs. Irregularities were found in EVM and paper trail counting. The count was buried somewhere else in the EVM and counted in someone else’s account. This error was detected due to the presence of a paper trail. This error was identified only through a paper trail and corrected. There is no dispute over the results of the June 2 primary election in America. The results are correct and the winners have been duly identified. But in some cases the number of votes indicated by the EVM machine was less than the number of votes indicated on the paper. Some machines showed zero votes for some candidates, while on paper they got some more votes.
Why was there an uproar in America?
Following this, Puerto Rico’s election commission said it was reviewing its contract with an American electronic voting company after discovering hundreds of irregularities in the ‘primary’ election. Now questions are being raised in America that where there is no paper trail facility, EVM will not be used, how is this possible? There has been a commotion in America about this incident. EVMs in India caught fire when Elon Musk posted against EVMs. Elon Musk said that we should remove electronic voting machines. It is vulnerable to being hacked by humans or AI. Even if it’s a small risk, it’s still a risk.
Controversy over Elon Musk’s post
In fact, Elon Musk shared this post with independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, reposting the post. Kennedy wrote in his post, ‘There were many irregularities during EVM voting in Puerto Rico’s primary election. Fortunately there was a paper trail, so the problem was identified and the vote count corrected. What happens where there is no paper trail? It is important for American citizens to know that each of their votes counts and that their election cannot be tampered with. To avoid electronic interference in elections, they will have to revert to paper ballots.
Uproar over EVMs in India too
After Elon Musk’s post on EVMs, political conflict started in India. BJP leader and former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar took a dig at Elon Musk saying that he should come to India and learn something. He said that India’s EVMs have no connectivity, no Bluetooth, no Wi-Fi, no Internet; There is no way. Factory-programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed. However, Rahul Gandhi also did not back down from this controversy. He also doubted and questioned the EVMs. While sharing Musk’s post, he wrote that EVMs in India are a black box and no one is allowed to check it. He mentioned the Mumbai incident in his post
Tags: Elon Musk, Rahul Gandhi, US news
First published: June 17, 2024, 12:07 IST