The hue and cry around EVMs has by now become a regular feature. The latest controversy involves a sensational claim of a live demonstration of hacking by an Indian cybersecurity expert based in the US in London that never happened. A promised earthquake turned out to be a damp squib.

The supposed “expert” introduced himself as one Syed Shuja, an ex-employee of ECIL, Hyderabad, who claimed to be a member of the team which designed the EVMs. His sensational claim was that he discovered a way which made hacking possible. He went on to say that the 2014 general elections was entirely rigged.

Even the recent state assembly elections would have been rigged but for the counteraction by Shuja and his team. He claimed that a senior BJP leader and a Karnataka journalist who knew about the rigging were killed, besides his own teammates whose murders were covered up as incidents in a communal riot. He said he survived and escaped to the US where he sought political asylum.

These sound like bizarre claims but can be independently verified. One hopes that the agencies concerned would be doing their job. The fact is that “live demonstration” of EVM hacking never happened. But the controversy was revived yet again.&nbsp;

This is by no means a standalone incident. There is a long history of claims and counter-claims. Every political party at some time or the other has raised doubts without any evidence whatsoever. The usual call is to return to ballot papers.&nbsp;

To force the hands of the Election Commission to return to ballot papers, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), in 2010, put up more than 64 candidates in 12 by-elections on the Telangana issue as the EVMs cannot take more than 64 candidates. After scrutiny, six constituencies were left with over 64 candidates, where perforce elections had to be conducted with paper ballots. An equal number used EVMs. In a way, this was a great opportunity to test the relative merits and demerits of the two systems of voting.&nbsp;

While EVM results were out in four hours, ballot papers took 40 hours, with a lot of invalid votes coming in. The results from both the systems were exactly the same.

Interestingly, on that occasion, the BJP was opposing the EVM and the Congress defending it! Since the 2014 elections, all parties have been accusing the BJP of misusing EVMs to win elections without producing any evidence. Hence the song remains the same, only the singers change every couple of years.

The ECI, on the other hand, has confidently challenged all conspiracy theorists to try their hands on its EVMs to show that these can be hacked. Till date no political party has accepted the challenge.&nbsp;

The previous occasion when the demand for ballot papers had reached such a high pitch was in 2010, in the wake of BJP’s hype about hackability of the machines. The ECI had called an all-party meeting where consensus was reached that voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) was the ultimate solution. We accepted the demand and asked the two EVM manufacturing companies to design VVPAT machines.

The independent committee of five IIT professors was asked to oversee the entire technology and process. After a series of trials, the VVPAT was initially tried in Nagaland in 2012 and later in several other states. Since 2017, every state election has been held with these printer-attached machines. Voter chits generated by these machines have been crosschecked in 1,500 booths. All of them tallied. That should have ended the controversy.&nbsp;

Recurrent controversy creates doubts in public minds about the electoral system that has stood the test of time. Lack of public trust in the system is dangerous for democracy. It must be addressed effectively and quickly. Many parties are demanding that a reasonable percentage of VVPAT machines should be counted for public confidence. Let EC examine this demand and arrive at a scientific sample size in consultation with statistical experts so that the controversy is put to rest once for all.&nbsp;

Instead of appearing rigid, the Commission may convene an all-party meeting, yet again, as the basic concern is serious and the stakes are very high. My experience in dealing with political parties is that if we have an open dialogue with them to explain our stand, they always see reason and a consensus does evolve. Giving it another shot, urgently, would be worth its while.&nbsp;&nbsp;

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

The hue and cry around EVMs has by now become a regular feature. The latest controversy involves a sensational claim of a live demonstration of hacking by an Indian cybersecurity expert based in the US in London that never happened.

The hue and cry around EVMs has by now become a regular feature. The latest controversy involves a sensational claim of a live demonstration of hacking by an Indian cybersecurity expert based in the US in London that never happened. A promised earthquake turned out to be a damp squib. The supposed “expert” introduced himself as one Syed Shuja, an ex-employee of ECIL, Hyderabad, who claimed to be a member of the team which designed the EVMs. His sensational claim was that he discovered a way which made hacking possible. He went on to say that the 2014 general elections was entirely rigged. Even the recent state assembly elections would have been rigged but for the counteraction by Shuja and his team. He claimed that a senior BJP leader and a Karnataka journalist who knew about the rigging were killed, besides his own teammates whose murders were covered up as incidents in a communal riot. He said he survived and escaped to the US where he sought political asylum. These sound like bizarre claims but can be independently verified. One hopes that the agencies concerned would be doing their job. The fact is that “live demonstration” of EVM hacking never happened. But the controversy was revived yet again. This is by no means a standalone incident. There is a long history of claims and counter-claims. Every political party at some time or the other has raised doubts without any evidence whatsoever. The usual call is to return to ballot papers. To force the hands of the Election Commission to return to ballot papers, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), in 2010, put up more than 64 candidates in 12 by-elections on the Telangana issue as the EVMs cannot take more than 64 candidates. After scrutiny, six constituencies were left with over 64 candidates, where perforce elections had to be conducted with paper ballots. An equal number used EVMs. In a way, this was a great opportunity to test the relative merits and demerits of the two systems of voting. While EVM results were out in four hours, ballot papers took 40 hours, with a lot of invalid votes coming in. The results from both the systems were exactly the same. Interestingly, on that occasion, the BJP was opposing the EVM and the Congress defending it! Since the 2014 elections, all parties have been accusing the BJP of misusing EVMs to win elections without producing any evidence. Hence the song remains the same, only the singers change every couple of years. The ECI, on the other hand, has confidently challenged all conspiracy theorists to try their hands on its EVMs to show that these can be hacked. Till date no political party has accepted the challenge. The previous occasion when the demand for ballot papers had reached such a high pitch was in 2010, in the wake of BJP’s hype about hackability of the machines. The ECI had called an all-party meeting where consensus was reached that voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) was the ultimate solution. We accepted the demand and asked the two EVM manufacturing companies to design VVPAT machines. The independent committee of five IIT professors was asked to oversee the entire technology and process. After a series of trials, the VVPAT was initially tried in Nagaland in 2012 and later in several other states. Since 2017, every state election has been held with these printer-attached machines. Voter chits generated by these machines have been crosschecked in 1,500 booths. All of them tallied. That should have ended the controversy. Recurrent controversy creates doubts in public minds about the electoral system that has stood the test of time. Lack of public trust in the system is dangerous for democracy. It must be addressed effectively and quickly. Many parties are demanding that a reasonable percentage of VVPAT machines should be counted for public confidence. Let EC examine this demand and arrive at a scientific sample size in consultation with statistical experts so that the controversy is put to rest once for all. Instead of appearing rigid, the Commission may convene an all-party meeting, yet again, as the basic concern is serious and the stakes are very high. My experience in dealing with political parties is that if we have an open dialogue with them to explain our stand, they always see reason and a consensus does evolve. Giving it another shot, urgently, would be worth its while. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Recurring EVM controversy

Election Commission of India has blasted the uncorroborated tongue in cheek allegation by Syed Shuja, a self styled cyber expert seeking asylum in the United States, who showed up on Skype to address a press conference in London on Monday and hurled the wild charge that the 2014 parliamentary elections in India were rigged by hacking the electronic voting machines (EVMs). He didn’t stop at that and went on to allege that the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, held after demonetisation, also were rigged in favour of the BJP.

About the Delhi Assembly election, that brought the Aam Aadmi Party to power with a historic mandate, Shuja said that his team could intercept low-frequency communication and reverse the Delhi results. Otherwise, the BJP would have swept these polls by hacking the EVMs, he said adding that low-frequency signals to rig the just concluded Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan also were “successfully intercepted” and as a result, the BJP lost power in these States.

ECI has lodged an FIR against Shuja. The election body has also issued a statement to counter what it has described as a “motivated controversy”. &nbsp;ECI has placed on record the testimony of the Technical Experts Committee (TEC) members - Prof D T Shahani, Prof Emeritus IIT Delhi and Prof Rajat Moona, Director IIT Bhilai and Prof D K Sharma, Prof Emeritus IIT Bombay (Mumbai), who have have reconfirmed to the ECI that the ECI-EVMs are stand-alone machines designed to connect only amongst ECI-EVM units (Ballot Unit, Control Unit and VVPAT) through cables that remain in full public view. 
 
There is no mechanism in ECI-EVMs to communicate with any device through wireless communication on any Radio Frequency. All versions of ECI-EVMs are regularly and rigorously tested against low to high wireless frequencies. These tests include and go beyond the standard tests specified for electronic equipment. ECI-EVMs are regularly tested for proper functioning under all kind of operating conditions. ECI-EVMs are also regularly tested for code authentication and verification.

Meanwhile, in London, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) has distanced itself from the press conference that was jointly organised by the Indian Journalists’ Association (Europe) and FPA. A day after the presser, FPA tweeted: The Foreign Press Association strongly disassociates itself with any claims made by the speaker Syed Shuja during the #IJA event in London yesterday. Not one of the masked speaker’s accusations have so far been corroborated.

Italian Journalist in London, Deborah Bonetti, who writes for an Italian newspaper&nbsp;and is Director of the Foreign Press Association, who sat through the London press meet as a co-host later said in a tweet: “The speaker at yesterday’s event #IJA did not follow up his claims with any proof. He was not credible and should not have been given a platform”.

The Congress party also has chosen to distance itself from the London press conference. Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that party senior Kapil Sibal, who was present at this event had been invited by a journalist and was not there to represent the Congress party.

When journalists present at the London presser asked Shuja whether or not he had evidence to corroborate his allegations, each time his reply was in the negative. At the fag-end of the whole exercise, one of the media-persons even thanked Shuja for “entertaining” them. The journalists repeatedly questioned him about his agenda and his stock reply was that he was bothered about protecting democracy in India. On being asked why it took him so long to raise the EVM hacking issue, Shuja talked of raising the matter with a TV personality and said that he had chosen to remain silent. &nbsp; 
 
He also told media-persons that the high profile Bangalore-based journalist Gauri Lankesh was in touch with him but was murdered before she could publish a news item on the “hacking of EVMs”. &nbsp;He even went on to make the ridiculous charge, without a shred of evidence, that late Union Minister Gopinath Munde was killed as he was aware of the hacking of EVMs during the 2014 polls.

Shuja deserves to be hauled up for what he has blurted out is obviously motivated towards undermining India's democracy and its robust electoral system, which is globally recognised and respected. He has also made a bizarre attempt to tarnish the image of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the parliamentary election. The ECI has lodged a criminal complaint against him and now he will be dealt with under the law.&nbsp; 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Election Commission of India has blasted the uncorroborated tongue in cheek allegation by Syed Shuja, a self styled cyber expert seeking asylum in the United States, who showed up on Skype to address a press conference in London on Monday and hurled the wild charge that the 2014 parliamentary elections in India were rigged by hacking the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Election Commission of India has blasted the uncorroborated tongue in cheek allegation by Syed Shuja, a self styled cyber expert seeking asylum in the United States, who showed up on Skype to address a press conference in London on Monday and hurled the wild charge that the 2014 parliamentary elections in India were rigged by hacking the electronic voting machines (EVMs). He didn’t stop at that and went on to allege that the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, held after demonetisation, also were rigged in favour of the BJP. About the Delhi Assembly election, that brought the Aam Aadmi Party to power with a historic mandate, Shuja said that his team could intercept low-frequency communication and reverse the Delhi results. Otherwise, the BJP would have swept these polls by hacking the EVMs, he said adding that low-frequency signals to rig the just concluded Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan also were “successfully intercepted” and as a result, the BJP lost power in these States. ECI has lodged an FIR against Shuja. The election body has also issued a statement to counter what it has described as a “motivated controversy”. ECI has placed on record the testimony of the Technical Experts Committee (TEC) members - Prof D T Shahani, Prof Emeritus IIT Delhi and Prof Rajat Moona, Director IIT Bhilai and Prof D K Sharma, Prof Emeritus IIT Bombay (Mumbai), who have have reconfirmed to the ECI that the ECI-EVMs are stand-alone machines designed to connect only amongst ECI-EVM units (Ballot Unit, Control Unit and VVPAT) through cables that remain in full public view. There is no mechanism in ECI-EVMs to communicate with any device through wireless communication on any Radio Frequency. All versions of ECI-EVMs are regularly and rigorously tested against low to high wireless frequencies. These tests include and go beyond the standard tests specified for electronic equipment. ECI-EVMs are regularly tested for proper functioning under all kind of operating conditions. ECI-EVMs are also regularly tested for code authentication and verification. Meanwhile, in London, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) has distanced itself from the press conference that was jointly organised by the Indian Journalists’ Association (Europe) and FPA. A day after the presser, FPA tweeted: The Foreign Press Association strongly disassociates itself with any claims made by the speaker Syed Shuja during the #IJA event in London yesterday. Not one of the masked speaker’s accusations have so far been corroborated. Italian Journalist in London, Deborah Bonetti, who writes for an Italian newspaper and is Director of the Foreign Press Association, who sat through the London press meet as a co-host later said in a tweet: “The speaker at yesterday’s event #IJA did not follow up his claims with any proof. He was not credible and should not have been given a platform”. The Congress party also has chosen to distance itself from the London press conference. Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that party senior Kapil Sibal, who was present at this event had been invited by a journalist and was not there to represent the Congress party. When journalists present at the London presser asked Shuja whether or not he had evidence to corroborate his allegations, each time his reply was in the negative. At the fag-end of the whole exercise, one of the media-persons even thanked Shuja for “entertaining” them. The journalists repeatedly questioned him about his agenda and his stock reply was that he was bothered about protecting democracy in India. On being asked why it took him so long to raise the EVM hacking issue, Shuja talked of raising the matter with a TV personality and said that he had chosen to remain silent. He also told media-persons that the high profile Bangalore-based journalist Gauri Lankesh was in touch with him but was murdered before she could publish a news item on the “hacking of EVMs”. He even went on to make the ridiculous charge, without a shred of evidence, that late Union Minister Gopinath Munde was killed as he was aware of the hacking of EVMs during the 2014 polls. Shuja deserves to be hauled up for what he has blurted out is obviously motivated towards undermining India's democracy and its robust electoral system, which is globally recognised and respected. He has also made a bizarre attempt to tarnish the image of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the parliamentary election. The ECI has lodged a criminal complaint against him and now he will be dealt with under the law. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Election Commission is right to call EVM hackathon 'a motivated slugfest'

Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Naveen Chawla on Tuesday said that EVM was “<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/evm-hacking-claim-centre-alleges-congress-organised-hackathon-in-london-opposition-calls-for-switch-to-ballot-box-191969">a very good and fine machine</a>” and cautioned against returning to the use of ballot papers for conducting the polls.

“I endorse that EVM is a very good and fine machine. We should never go back to ballot papers,” Chawla told ANI here while commenting on the current furore over the EVM Hackathon held in London on Monday.

“My position is very clear about EVM. Election Commission’s EVMs are manufactured by two public sector companies under highly-secret conditions. These machines were made in 2000 and have been used continuously since 2006,” he said.

“It is just that those who win the elections don`t say anything about EVM, whereas those who lose challenge EVMs,” he said while hailing India’s electoral process.

“I have visited many countries as an election observer. Our system is of 100 per cent accountability.”

Talking about ‘cyber-security researcher’ Syed Shuja’s claim regarding EVM hacking, he said, “This is very unfortunate. Raising such an issue is very distasteful.”

“I was at the helm of affairs during 2009 General Elections. We got 100 machines and installed cameras. It was an open invitation to hack EVMs and people were called to demonstrate hacking if it is possible and no one could do it,” added Chawla.

Responding to the chorus of using ballot papers for elections, former CEC said, “I have argued this in my book that long ago there was a major problem of booth capturing.”

“Also very often the stamp is not clearly marked, which lead to a large number of invalid votes. EVMs have made the process neat and clean,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Tuesday said to investigate the claim made by Shuja that EVMs can be tampered with, as a political row erupted over the issue.

Amid the claims by the so-called hacker, there were renewed calls by some Opposition parties for finding an alternative to the EVMs, including the return to the use of ballot papers, in the coming Lok Sabha polls.&nbsp;

Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Naveen Chawla on Tuesday said that EVM was “a very good and fine machine” and cautioned against returning to the use of ballot papers for conducting the polls.

Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Naveen Chawla on Tuesday said that EVM was “a very good and fine machine” and cautioned against returning to the use of ballot papers for conducting the polls. “I endorse that EVM is a very good and fine machine. We should never go back to ballot papers,” Chawla told ANI here while commenting on the current furore over the EVM Hackathon held in London on Monday. “My position is very clear about EVM. Election Commission’s EVMs are manufactured by two public sector companies under highly-secret conditions. These machines were made in 2000 and have been used continuously since 2006,” he said. “It is just that those who win the elections don`t say anything about EVM, whereas those who lose challenge EVMs,” he said while hailing India’s electoral process. “I have visited many countries as an election observer. Our system is of 100 per cent accountability.” Talking about ‘cyber-security researcher’ Syed Shuja’s claim regarding EVM hacking, he said, “This is very unfortunate. Raising such an issue is very distasteful.” “I was at the helm of affairs during 2009 General Elections. We got 100 machines and installed cameras. It was an open invitation to hack EVMs and people were called to demonstrate hacking if it is possible and no one could do it,” added Chawla. Responding to the chorus of using ballot papers for elections, former CEC said, “I have argued this in my book that long ago there was a major problem of booth capturing.” “Also very often the stamp is not clearly marked, which lead to a large number of invalid votes. EVMs have made the process neat and clean,” he said. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Tuesday said to investigate the claim made by Shuja that EVMs can be tampered with, as a political row erupted over the issue. Amid the claims by the so-called hacker, there were renewed calls by some Opposition parties for finding an alternative to the EVMs, including the return to the use of ballot papers, in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Former CEC Naveen Chawla says EVM 'a fine machine', cautions against returning to ballot papers

The BJP Tuesday dubbed allegations of rigging in the 2014 parliamentary polls, made at a London press conference, a "Congress-sponsored conspiracy" designed to "defame" Indian democracy and the Election Commission.

A day after a self-proclaimed cyber expert alleged at the press event that the BJP had won election by hacking into Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the ruling party launched a stinging attack on the Congress and said it has already started looking for an "alibi" for its imminent loss in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/evm-hacking-claim-centre-alleges-congress-organised-hackathon-in-london-opposition-calls-for-switch-to-ballot-box-191969">Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad</a> told reporters that the Indian Journalists' Association, which had organised the conference, is headed by Ashis Ray who, he claimed, is a "committed Congressman" and has been singing paeans in support of Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

He contributes to National Herald, a Congress mouthpiece, "campaigns" for the Congress on social media and has often attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prasad claimed, adding that he had also organised Gandhi's public event in London.

There has been no reaction from Ray to the BJP's comments so far.

Targeting the Congress, Prasad questioned the presence of its leader Kapil Sibal at the event.

"What was Sibal doing there? In what capacity was he present? My charge is that he was there to monitor the event for the Congress. It was a Congress-sponsored conspiracy designed to defame Indian democracy and its Election Commission," Prasad said, also calling it a Congress-scripted exercise.

The BJP leader also dismissed Sibal's claim that he was present in his personal capacity, saying he was intelligent enough to know the implications of his being there. He claimed that Sibal went there by deliberate design.&nbsp;

"Whether it is the stoppage of the work for the construction of Ram temple, talk of the abolition of law on sedition or impeachment campaign of the Chief Justice of India -- all being done by Kapil Sibal. He is the one who is trying to disgrace Election Commission," Prasad said. 
 
He said the invite for the event had claimed that the hacking of EVMs will be shown but the "gentleman" appeared via Skype from the US wearing a mask.&nbsp;

Ridiculing the London event as a circus and political stunt, the BJP leader said he had never heard of Syed Shuja, who claimed to be a cyber expert and made the outlandish and explosive allegations at the press conference, even though he, as Union IT minister, keeps in touch with experts and developments in the field.&nbsp;

"I could not understand this drama. He (Suja) offered no proof and nor did he present himself to questioning by the media. No evidence, no corroboration and no question and such big allegations were levelled," he said.

Prasad alleged it was a Congress-sponsored conspiracy and asked if opposition parties wanted to revert to the use of ballot papers in elections, alleging that the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had used them to rig local polls in the state last year as the government did not use EVMs.

"This is a part of a well thought-out conspiracy, this is Congress's Cambridge Analytica part-2," Prasad said.

The matter of Cambridge Analytica allegedly harvesting people's personal information from social media had already been sent to the CBI, he said.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

The Congress is the "biggest culprit" when it comes to weakening institutions while it levels this allegation at "our leader", he said, apparently referring to the opposition party's accusation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi of attacking institutions.&nbsp;

He also expressed his party's "deep pain" at the allegation in the London event that Union minister Gopinath Munde was "murdered" because he was aware of the 2014 poll "rigging" and was set to disclose it. He dismissed it as rubbish.

Munde had died in a road accident in New Delhi weeks after the BJP won the 2014 elections.

Name of a deceased person was used as he could no longer respond, Prasad said, adding that an AIIMS doctor, who was involved in Munde's postmortem, had Monday stated that the reason of his death was a neck injury suffered in the accident.&nbsp;

Congress president Rahul Gandhi should answer as to how many more alibies he was going to invent for his party's loss in the Lok Sabha polls, Prasad asked.

The London event was also meant to defame the popular mandate in 2014, he said, noting that it was not the BJP but the Congress which was then in power. The BJP had swept to power in 2014.

The Union minister said the EVMs have been in use since 1996 and non-BJP parties have won so many elections since them.

"When the BJP wins, then the EVMs become suspect. What kind of logic is this," he asked, adding that there cannot be a more "shameful" argument which is designed to compromise the Indian electoral process.

No political party or expert had taken up the open challenge thrown by the EC in 2017 for hacking EVMs, he said, adding it's shameful that a political party that had ruled the country for close to six decades is "sponsoring" such shameful attacks on the commission.

The Supreme Court had also dismissed in November last a petition seeking re-introduction of ballot papers in elections.

 
&nbsp;

The BJP Tuesday dubbed allegations of rigging in the 2014 parliamentary polls, made at a London press conference, a "Congress-sponsored conspiracy" designed to "defame" Indian democracy and the Election Commission.

The BJP Tuesday dubbed allegations of rigging in the 2014 parliamentary polls, made at a London press conference, a "Congress-sponsored conspiracy" designed to "defame" Indian democracy and the Election Commission. A day after a self-proclaimed cyber expert alleged at the press event that the BJP had won election by hacking into Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the ruling party launched a stinging attack on the Congress and said it has already started looking for an "alibi" for its imminent loss in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that the Indian Journalists' Association, which had organised the conference, is headed by Ashis Ray who, he claimed, is a "committed Congressman" and has been singing paeans in support of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. He contributes to National Herald, a Congress mouthpiece, "campaigns" for the Congress on social media and has often attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prasad claimed, adding that he had also organised Gandhi's public event in London. There has been no reaction from Ray to the BJP's comments so far. Targeting the Congress, Prasad questioned the presence of its leader Kapil Sibal at the event. "What was Sibal doing there? In what capacity was he present? My charge is that he was there to monitor the event for the Congress. It was a Congress-sponsored conspiracy designed to defame Indian democracy and its Election Commission," Prasad said, also calling it a Congress-scripted exercise. The BJP leader also dismissed Sibal's claim that he was present in his personal capacity, saying he was intelligent enough to know the implications of his being there. He claimed that Sibal went there by deliberate design. "Whether it is the stoppage of the work for the construction of Ram temple, talk of the abolition of law on sedition or impeachment campaign of the Chief Justice of India -- all being done by Kapil Sibal. He is the one who is trying to disgrace Election Commission," Prasad said. He said the invite for the event had claimed that the hacking of EVMs will be shown but the "gentleman" appeared via Skype from the US wearing a mask. Ridiculing the London event as a circus and political stunt, the BJP leader said he had never heard of Syed Shuja, who claimed to be a cyber expert and made the outlandish and explosive allegations at the press conference, even though he, as Union IT minister, keeps in touch with experts and developments in the field. "I could not understand this drama. He (Suja) offered no proof and nor did he present himself to questioning by the media. No evidence, no corroboration and no question and such big allegations were levelled," he said. Prasad alleged it was a Congress-sponsored conspiracy and asked if opposition parties wanted to revert to the use of ballot papers in elections, alleging that the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had used them to rig local polls in the state last year as the government did not use EVMs. "This is a part of a well thought-out conspiracy, this is Congress's Cambridge Analytica part-2," Prasad said. The matter of Cambridge Analytica allegedly harvesting people's personal information from social media had already been sent to the CBI, he said. The Congress is the "biggest culprit" when it comes to weakening institutions while it levels this allegation at "our leader", he said, apparently referring to the opposition party's accusation against Prime Minister Narendra Modi of attacking institutions. He also expressed his party's "deep pain" at the allegation in the London event that Union minister Gopinath Munde was "murdered" because he was aware of the 2014 poll "rigging" and was set to disclose it. He dismissed it as rubbish. Munde had died in a road accident in New Delhi weeks after the BJP won the 2014 elections. Name of a deceased person was used as he could no longer respond, Prasad said, adding that an AIIMS doctor, who was involved in Munde's postmortem, had Monday stated that the reason of his death was a neck injury suffered in the accident. Congress president Rahul Gandhi should answer as to how many more alibies he was going to invent for his party's loss in the Lok Sabha polls, Prasad asked. The London event was also meant to defame the popular mandate in 2014, he said, noting that it was not the BJP but the Congress which was then in power. The BJP had swept to power in 2014. The Union minister said the EVMs have been in use since 1996 and non-BJP parties have won so many elections since them. "When the BJP wins, then the EVMs become suspect. What kind of logic is this," he asked, adding that there cannot be a more "shameful" argument which is designed to compromise the Indian electoral process. No political party or expert had taken up the open challenge thrown by the EC in 2017 for hacking EVMs, he said, adding it's shameful that a political party that had ruled the country for close to six decades is "sponsoring" such shameful attacks on the commission. The Supreme Court had also dismissed in November last a petition seeking re-introduction of ballot papers in elections.