Come, hack our EVMs: EC throws hackathon challenge

Come try hack our EVMs and show they can be tampered with, the Election Commission said on Wednesday, inviting political parties and experts to the "open challenge".

While the commission is yet to decide on the exact date, it said the challenge would be held in the first week of May and could continue for ten days.

The last time such an event had taken place was in 2009 when 100 machines from different parts of the country were kept at Vigyan Bhawan. No one, the EC claimed, could hack the electronic voting machines.

When Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal had met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi with a complaint on EVMs last week, he was told that the poll panel is planning such an event.

This time, the venue could be Nirvachan Sadan, the EC headquarters.

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The specifics would be decided by the commission's technical expert committee on EVMs and the details would be made public in the next couple of days.

There is a strong possibility that EVMs used in the Uttar Pradesh polls could also be brought in for the challenge. The Bahujan Samaj Party had alleged that tampered machines helped the Bharatiya Janata Party win the polls.

As per rules, the machines cannot be taken out of the strong room for 40 days -- a period within which an aggrieved person can file an election petition before the high court concerned. That period will end later this month.

"From first week of May, experts, scientists, technocrats can come for a week or 10 days and try to hack the machines," an official source said.

They said the challenge will be open for a week or 10 days.