Syed Shuja, a US-based cyber expert who claims he was a part of the team which designed Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in India, alleges that the 2014 general elections in India were rigged. Shuja is holding a press conference in London claiming that he can demonstrate how the machines can be hacked.
Shuja, who is addressing the meet via a video conference, claims that he was attacked a few days ago.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal is also present at the event.
In the press conference, Shuja alleged that 2014 Lok Sabha elections were rigged
He also claimed that Gopinath Munde was murdered as he was aware of EVM hacking
Telecom giant Reliance Communications helped the BJP to get low frequency signals to hack EVMs, alleged Shuja
He also claimed that slain journalist Gauri Lankesh agreed to run the story for him, but she was killed
Shuja said that other than the BJP, the SP, BSP and the AAP too approached him to know if EVMs could be hacked
Syed Shuja said that the Congress lost 201 seats in 2014 due to EVM tampering.
Syed Shuja claims slain journalist Gauri Lankesh agreed to run the story for him, but she was killed. He further claims Lankesh filed an RTI to find out who manufactured cables used in the EVMs, following which she was killed.
“She was waiting to run the story, but she was murdered,” he alleged.
When asked if AAP approached him to hack elections, he claims they approached him to be able to demonstrate to the world that this could be done.
In response to a question, Syed Shuja claims he will provide the evidence he submitted to the US authorities for his asylum application to journalists.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that democracy must be protected and that the Opposition parties discussed the issue of EVMs on 19 January.
Telecom giant Reliance Communications helped the BJP to get low frequency signals to hack EVMs, claims Syed Shuja.
“Reliance Communications have the network to transmit the data, BJP is the beneficiary. There are nine places in India where there are facilities. The employees don’t know that they are tampering with EVMs. They think they are doing data entry,” alleges Shuja.
Shuja claims EVMs have been hacked since 2014 as well. He also alleges if his people hadn't intercepted the BJP attempts to hack in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, they would have won those states as well.
Syed Shuja claims he is in the US because he was able to claim asylum there. He also said that he submitted proof to the US to get asylum which he claims is with the US authorities.
Shuja claims he met a famous Indian journalist and told him the whole story about the EVM rigging. He says the journalist "shouts every night" on TV debates.
In Delhi state elections in 2015, we managed to intercept the transmission, resulting in the AAP winning 67 out of 70 seats. Otherwise the BJP would have swept, he claims.
Syed Shuja claims that other than the BJP, the SP, BSP and the AAP too approached him to know if EVMs could be hacked.
“SP, BSP asked if they can do anything. We contacted Congress, we thought we could help them. The AAP wanted to hack to show the world that EVMs are hackable,” he said.
Syed Shuja, a US-based cyber expert, who has designed EVMs used in India, claims late Maharashtra BJP leader and Union Minister Gopinath Munde was aware of the EVM hacking in 2014.
He also claims the NIA officer investigating Munde's death, Tanzil Ahmed, was planning to file an FIR noting he had been murdered, but was himself killed.
Syed Shuja alleges that the 2014 general elections were rigged. UP, Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi results were rigged during the general elections, he claims.
The EVMs were hacked by the BJP using a modulator which transmits military-grade frequency, he claims.
Syed Shuja claims that in April 2014 they realised signals were being emitted from the machines during the Lok Sabha elections.
They tried to set up a meeting with BJP leaders, thinking they could blackmail the BJP with what they knew.
The expert claims when he and his team went to meet a BJP leader in a Hyderabad suburb, the team was shot. Shuja too was also allegedly shot in the attack but survived.
Shuja claims that to cover up the incident, a communal violence incident was 'arranged' in Kishangarh, Hyderabad. His dead colleagues were allegedly passed off as the people killed.
The expert's name is Syed Shuja. He claims he worked for the ECIL from 2009-2014. He says he is not present at the meeting because he was attacked four days ago.
The Election Commission was invited to be here but are not present, he claims. Political parties were also invited, but only Kapil Sibal from the Congress is attending the event, he adds.
Shuja claims that he was part of a team which designed the EVMs used in the 2014 elections.
He claims he will show how the hacking can be done, supposedly using EVMs actually used in recent elections, and will say which elections have been tampered with.
Shuja clarifies that he and his team were instructed by ECIL to find out if EVMs could be hacked, and find out how to do this.
A US-based cyber expert, Syed Shuja, who has designed Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used in India, is holding a press conference in London claiming that he can demonstrate how the machines can be hacked.
Shuja, who is addressing the meet via a video conference claims that he was attacked a few days ago. He is showing how the hacking can be done, supposedly using EVMs actually used in recent elections, and will say which elections have been tampered with.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal is also present at the event.
A US-based cyber expert, who has designed EVMs used in India, is set to demonstrate that the machines can be hacked.
Questions over manipulation of Electronic Voting Machines have been a fixture of mainstream Indian politics since 2009, when senior BJP leader LK Advani alleged that EVMs weren’t foolproof. Current BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao wrote an entire book on the topic in 2010, in which Advani noted that many countries like Germany had banned their use.
After the BJP came to power in the Centre in 2014, Opposition parties took up the baton, alleging tampering of EVMs at regular intervals.
The most recent example of this was when the AAP and the Congress raised concerns about malfunctions and alleged attempts to tamper with EVMs during the recent round of state elections. Three percent of EVMs in Madhya Pradesh experienced glitches during the elections in November 2018, and there were a string of suspicious incidents in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan involving EVMs.
The Election Commission has insisted that EVMs cannot be hacked, noting that the EVMs can’t be tampered with remotely since they don’t have networking devices which can be accessed by Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Tampering would therefore require physically opening up the machine, which the EC claims cannot be done without them knowing. The Election Commission has also cited the efforts made to randomise which EVMs are used for which constituencies, and insist they will use VVPAT along with all EVMs to ensure transparency.
The Election Commission even organised a hackathon in June 2017 where they challenged doubters to hack one of their EVMs, but only two parties, the NCP and the CPM participated. Neither ended up taking the challenge because of the conditions imposed by the EVM, and other parties had refused to take part after the EC said they couldn’t tamper with the motherboard of the EVMs.
https://www.thequint.com/news/india/evm-hacking-demonstration-press-conference-london-uk-live-updates
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