'EVMs In India Are A Black Box': Rahul Gandhi Seconds Elon Musk's Concerns Amid Fresh Debate

Rahul Gandhi raised concerns about transparency of India's electoral process, criticising the use of EVMs as opaque systems that lack scrutiny. His comments follow X CEO Elon Musk's call for a ban due to potential hacking risks.

File Photo of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and X CEO Elon Musk

Source : PTI | Getty Images

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised serious concerns over the transparency of India's electoral process on Sunday, criticising Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) as opaque systems that lack scrutiny. Gandhi’s comments come amidst a debate on the integrity of EVMs in elections in India and now abroad with Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk calling for a ban on the devices in the context of US Presidential elections as well as recent irregularities reported in Puerto Rico polls.

"EVMs in India are a black box which nobody is allowed to scrutinise 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," Gandhi asserted, sharing a media report on social media.

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. https://t.co/nysn5S8DCF pic.twitter.com/7sdTWJXOAb

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 16, 2024

The report by Midday highlighted a controversial incident involving a relative of a Shiv Sena candidate in Maharashtra who allegedly possessed a phone capable of unlocking an EVM. "During investigations, the Vanrai police has found that the accused Mangesh Pandilkar, relative of Ravindra Waikar- Shiv Sena candidate who won the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat by 48 votes was using the phone which was connected to the Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs). Police said this mobile phone was used for generating the OTP that unlocked the EVM machine, which was used inside the NESCO Centre on June 4," it stated.

The former Congress president on Sunday quoted a post by Elon Musk on X (formerly Twitter), in which the tech mogul advocated for the elimination of EVMs. "The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high," Musk stated.

This debate has been gaining momentum in India, with opposition parties demanding a full count of the VVPAT slips along with the EVM votes, a request that was not granted.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav echoed Gandhi’s sentiments, suggesting that technology should solve problems rather than create them. "If technology itself becomes the cause of trouble, it should be stopped. When world-renowned technology experts are openly writing about the risks of tampering with EVMs, why insist on their use? We reiterate our demand to conduct all upcoming elections using paper ballots," Yadav said.

‘टेक्नॉलजी’ समस्याओं को दूर करने के लिए होती है, अगर वही मुश्किलों की वजह बन जाए, तो उसका इस्तेमाल बंद कर देना चाहिए।

आज जब विश्व के कई चुनावों में EVM को लेकर गड़बड़ी की आशंका ज़ाहिर की जा रही है और दुनिया के जाने-माने टेक्नोलॉजी एक्सपर्ट्स EVM में हेराफेरी के ख़तरे की ओर… pic.twitter.com/evNAIxP4RG

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) June 16, 2024

Responding to this, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia asserted that the former Congress president cannot have it both ways. "You can't have it both ways where if you win EVMs are a hero while if you lose EVMs are zero. People understand this policy of the Congress," he remarked.

#BREAKING | राहुल गांधी पर ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया का पलटवार

- चित भी मेरी...पट भी मेरी नहीं चलेगी' : ज्योतिरादित्य सिंधिया

'हुंकार' @Sheerin_sherry के साथ | https://t.co/smwhXURgtc#HunkarOnABP #RahulGandhi #Congress #BJP #EVM #JyotiradityaScindia pic.twitter.com/Ncrpdx8nNq

— ABP News (@ABPNews) June 16, 2024

BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar Contests Elon Musk's EVM Ban Call

Meanwhile, in response to Musk's concerns, former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar defended the robustness of Indian EVMs, highlighting their unique design. "Indian EVMs are custom-designed, secure, and isolated from any network or media - no connectivity, no Bluetooth, wifi, Internet. They are factory-programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed," Chandrasekhar explained, offering to provide a tutorial for Musk.

This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. @elonmusk 's view may apply to US n other places - where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines.

But Indian EVMs are custom… https://t.co/GiaCqU1n7O

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@RajeevRC_X) June 16, 2024

Musk retorted, "Anything can be hacked," to which Chandrasekhar conceded the technical possibility but differentiated between theoretical and practical threats. "Technically, you're right - anything is possible with enough resources and technology. But this is different from EVMs being secure and reliable compared to paper voting."

Technically ur right - anything is possible E.g..wth quantum compute, i can decrypt any level of encryption, with lab level tech n plenty of resources, i can hack any digital hardware/system incldng flight controls of a glass cockpit of a jet etc etc. But thats a different type…

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@RajeevRC_X) June 16, 2024

BJP National Spokesperson Nalin Kohli criticised the Congress for what he described as a negative narrative. "Despite the Congress party increasing its seats in the 2024 (Lok Sabha) elections, they continue to raise questions on the functioning of EVMs. This shows their only agenda is an agenda of negativity," Kohli remarked.

VIDEO | Here’s what BJP National Spokesperson Nalin Kohli (@NalinSKohli) said on Rahul Gandhi’s social media post on EVMs.

“Despite the Congress party increasing its seats in 2024 (Lok Sabha) elections, they continue with this narrative of negativity and trying to constantly… pic.twitter.com/PLeDb7VoYl

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 16, 2024

Figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the United States have been pushing for a return to paper ballots to ensure election integrity.