EVM hackathon in last week of May, announces Election Commission

Amid criticism and even scepticism from various quarters over the functioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), the Election Commission has decided to hold an open hackathon for people to try and hack the voting machines in the last week of May.

Last month, the poll panel had said it may invite experts, scientists, technocrats, and representatives of political parties to hack the machines, which it claims are tamper-proof. The Election Commission had announced a similar challenge in 2009 and no one could hack the EVMs.

A number of Opposition parties, including the Congress,



have alleged tampering of the EVMs after the recent Assembly elections. A delegation of 16 parties recently met President Pranab Mukherjee and submitted a memorandum on the alleged tampering of the voting machines during the February-March elections.

Earlier today, the Election Commission also said it is likely to convene an all-party meeting on May 12 to discuss the issue of reliability of EVMs flagged by the Opposition parties.

The parties have urged the Election Commission to revert to ballot system, claiming that the faith of the people in EVMs has been "eroded".