Strong Reaction from BJP Leader to Elon Musk’s Request to Get Rid of the EVMs
- Posted on June 16, 2024
- News
- By Arijit Dutta
- 309 Views
Elon Musk's call to eliminate EVMs due to hacking risks drew a strong rebuttal from BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who argued that secure digital voting hardware is achievable, citing India's custom-designed, isolated EVMs as an example.
Tesla and spacex ceo Elon Musk riled up a hornet’s nest on Sunday when he called for the banning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Musk stated that it is too dangerous to use EVMs since they can be hacked by a human or AI, even when the likelihood is low.
However, BJP leader and former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar vigorously countered Musk’s statement, saying that the generalization made by the Tesla and Space X head was not correct at all, as it was possible to design secure digital hardware.
In response to Musk, Chandrasekhar wrote on X, ‘This is a huge sweeping generalisation statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware Wrong’. He pointed out that Musk might be right about certain countries having standard computing platforms with internet connectivity for their voting machines, but this doesn’t hold true for India’s custom-made secure and isolated EVMs.
Chandrasekhar further elaborated on the Indian EVM’s security measures: “Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media – No connectivity, no bluetooth, wifi, Internet. ie there is no way in. ”Non-reprogrammable factory programmed controllers which cannot be reprogrammed.
The BJP leader even offered to teach Musk how to design and construct proper EVMs, saying “Electronic voting machines can be architected and built right as India has done. We would be happy to run a tutorial Elon. ”
Musk’s original post came in response to the worry posted by American politician and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr regarding problems with EVMs in Puerto Rico’s recent primary elections. Kennedy, an independent presidential candidate in the 2024 United States presidential election, referred to an Associated Press report on voting irregularities and stated that having a paper record is crucial for dealing with such issues.
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This debate underlines the continuing preoccupations and
controversies regarding the safety and reliability of the electronic voting
systems and their usage not only in India but in other countries as well.
Nevertheless, the constant development of digital technologies poses the urgent
question of how to modernise elections while maintaining sufficient protection
against possible interference.