US cyber expert Syed Shuja on Monday claimed that Electronic Voting Machines in India can be hacked and the last few elections were rigged by the BJP. The expert made this claim at an event which was organised by Europe’s Indian Journalists Association (IJA) for a live demonstration on how the voting machines can be hacked.
He said that the EVMs as a standalone device cannot be hacked by Bluetooth or wi-fi or any other wireless devices. Shuja then described how the voting machines can be hacked through its chipsets by using the graphite-based transmitter.
During hour-long live video conference, US cyber expert Syed Shuja made several startling revelations. He claimed that the 2014 general election was rigged. He also said that the recent assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh were rigged and results were manipulated.
When asked who rigged those polls, Shuja said that the BJP was responsible for the hacking with the help of Reliance Jio as the latter have the network and infrastructure ready. However, it may be noted that Reliance Jio became operational only in 2016 — two years after the general elections.
The cyber expert, who is currently on political asylum in the US, claimed that senior BJP leader from Maharashtra Gopinath Munde was aware of EVM rigging and was about to expose his party as he was not getting what he wanted from his party. “He was murdered by his political parties,”. Shuja, however, said that he did not have any evidence to substantiate his charges.
The expert further claimed that many political parties such as SP, BSP, Congress were interested in finding out if the voting machines could be hacked. Responding to a question whether there was any proof of the charges he levelled, Shuja said: “No corroborative evidence.”
Shuja also said that the BJP has money and it is using that to buy votes.
The IJA had sent invitations to multiple political parties and the Election Commission of India. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal was present at the event in London. No other political parties attended the live demonstration. The ECI too did not send any representative in the event.