HYDERABAD: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Sunday alleged that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Sonia Gandhi won the 2009 general election by rigging the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).
Calling the conduct of elections using EVMs a gigantic fraud, Subramanian Swamy, during a press conference here, said that Election Commission of India (ECI) has been cheating people in three aspects. First, the ECI has been arrogating that the EVMs cannot be rigged, which is false.
“When some of us, including Hari Prasad who was recently arrested by the Mumbai police on the charges of stealing an EVM, went to demonstrate how EVMs can be rigged, on the invitation of the ECI, and Hari Prasad was about to prove it, the technical members of the ECI backed out at the last minute.
The reason cited by them was that it amounted to infringment of the intellectual property rights,” Swamy, who has challenged the usage of EVMs in the Delhi High Court, said.
The second lie by the ECI, according to Swamy, was that the EVMs were appreciated throughout the world and India has an international patent on them. However, no country in the world except India is using the EVMs, Swamy said.
Thirdly, as per section 11, 12 of the Information Technology Act, for any transaction done by a person a receipt should be given.
But no receipt was given to a voter after he cast his or her vote using an EVM, Swamy said.
Referring to the criminal cases against Hari Prasad, a technical advisor to Veta, an NGO, Swamy said, “The ECI has already been caught lying and hence the false cases should be withdrawn.”
“There is a serious threat to the security of Hari Prasad. If anything happens to him, Sonia Gandhi should take the responsibility,” Swamy added.
Hari Prasad said someone in the government is ensuring that the EVMs are not made fool-proof. He alleged that the Maharashtra government and the Centre had played a role in his arrest.