Rigged EVMs hurt democracy: Sisodia

New Delhi: Warning that EVM tampering was a serious danger to the very basis of

democracy

, deputy chief minister

Manish Sisodia

countered BJP’s poll victory spree across the country with a couplet: “Ladai jo tumne ye behtareen jeeti hai, fareb de ke siyasi zameen jeeti hai. Yahi wo sach hai jo main cheekh karke bolta hun, chunav tum nahi jeete ye machine jeeti hai”.

The couplet roughly translated means: “The magnificent political victory that you just had was possible through deceit. This is a fact that I will reiterate. The elections have been won not by you but by

EVMs

.”

Sisodia said that AAP will participate in the EVM Hackathon to be organised by Election Commission (EC) later this month and prove how EVMs can be tampered with. He also challenged EC to allow at least three AAP workers in place of those who service EVMs at storerooms and said they will “completely hack” all machines.

The deputy CM said he had wished that he was wrong about EVM tampering, but “today Saurabh Bhardwaj has proven that EVMs can be rigged”. He asked the House to rise and laud Bhardwaj’s effort. He also hailed technocrat and social activist VV Rao for picking up this issue 2009 onwards.

Directing a comment at rebel AAP MLA from Karawal Nagar Kapil Mishra and BJP legislators,

Sisodia

said, “Some people did not stand up. I would like to say that to come to this assembly you need to fight elections. For that it is important that the basis of democracy is secure. If the base shakes, then democracy will be in danger. I shudder to think which kind of people will win through

rigged

elections.”

Taking a dig at BJP, Sisodia said, “From 2009 to 2014, BJP went all out to show that EVMs can be tampered with. GVL Narsimha Rao wrote a book on it. Advani wrote the prastavna. They all went to Supreme Court.”

The House adopted a resolution taking note of the serious allegations on tampering of EVMs in different elections in the recent past. The House expressed dismay at “the approach of EC which even before inviting views of stakeholders pronounced that EVMs were tamperproof.”

It asked EC to give access to tech enthusiasts from time to time so that the vulnerability of EVMs could be tested.

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