BJP calls EVM row Congress sponsored

The BJP on Tuesday alleged that the EVM hackathon in London where a US-based self-claimed cyber expert said the 2014 Lok Sabha elections were rigged and that EVMs can be hacked was a "conspiracy" sponsored by the Congress to defame the country's election process. Speaking to the media here, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned Congress leader Kapil Sibal's presence at the event on Monday where the expert, Syed Shuja, made the sensational claim.

"What was Sibal doing there? We would like to know in what capacity was he present at the event. I believe he was there on behalf of the Congress party. "The entire event was a Congress sponsored conspiracy. They have started making excuses for their definite defeat in the coming Lok Sabha polls," he added, asking Congress President Rahul Gandhi that how many more "stunts" the Congress is going to perform ahead of the elections.

Terming it false and deliberate agenda, Prasad said it was an insult to the Indian voters from abroad. "The Congress is trying to defame the 2014 mandate and the Election Commission. The Congress did not say anything when it won the three states.

"EVMs have been in use for the last 20 years. For 10 years when Congress was in power, EVM was fine, when Mayawati won, it was fine, when Akhilesh won, then it was fine, when Mamata won in Bengal, then it was fine... but when the BJP won then the EVM is rigged. This is shameful," he said. Prasad said there could not be any logic to say that EVMs can be tampered with.

"It's a design to compromise the sanctity of India's election process which is recognised worldwide for its electoral reforms. The party which ruled the country for 58 years is designing to attack at this esteemed institution." "In 2014, the UPA was in power, not us. Where is the logic in accusing us of hacking the EVMs when we were not even in power," he asked.

In 2017, the Election Commission had organised an open challenge for three days for all political parties to prove it but no one except left parties appeared. "Where was Shuja then," he asked. When asked about a probe into the matter, Prasad said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would prefer "exposing" the Congress.

He also rubbished hacker Shuja's claims that BJP leader Gopinath Munde was "murdered" because he knew the "truth of the EVMs. He said the doctor who had conducted the autopsy on Munde has clearly said that Munde died in a car accident in Delhi.

Prasad also alleged that the organiser of the event contributed to National Herald and has proximity with Rahul Gandhi.