If petrol can be stolen using a chip, why can't EVMs be hacked, questions Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said if remote-controlled electronic chip in fuel dispensing machines can dupe unsuspecting consumers then electronic voting machines (EVMs) can also be hacked in a similar way.

In a tweet he said, "When petrol can be stolen from remote by a chip without any internet connection then it can happen in an EVM also," he said.

Yadav, who lost the recent UP Assembly polls, said we have to stop the misuse of technology.

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) had yesterday raided seven petrol pumps which were allegedly using remote-controlled electronic chip in fuel dispensing machines to dupe unsuspecting consumers.

STF sleuths found that an electrician used to instal these chips in petrol dispensing machines which reduced the fuel output.

The chip costing around Rs 3,000 when installed in the dispensing machines



reduced the output by nearly five to ten per cent. The chip is attached with a wire which is linked with a remote control that set the limit, the STF said.

Questions over the possibilities of EVM tampering have been raised from various quarters. After losing the UP election, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati had alleged that the machines were tampered with.

After the Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) election results in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made a clean sweep, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too had claimed that EVMs were hacked.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged widespread tampering of EVMs to favour the BJP and said there was "no reason" for the people of Delhi to favour the BJP.

"This is not Modi wave, this is EVM wave. This is the same wave that they (BJP) used in the Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab polls," Delhi minister Gopal Rai had said.