Candidate alleges hacking of EVMs in Mysuru  

Mysuru: BJP candidate from Narasimharaja (NR) constituency Sandesh Swamy has alleged that his Congress rival Tanveer Sait won the elections by hacking the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). He alleged that a group of hackers had approached all political parties, offering to hack the EVMs for them. He claimed that Sait had taken their help to win the election. He also accused Sait of illegally adding names to the electoral rolls in order to ensure his victory.

“There were 2,11,549 voters in the constituency in 2013, but the number rose to 2,61,402 just before the election. We brought this issue to the attention of the Election Commission, but it was not investigated. We want the EC to look into issues pertaining to the electoral rolls and hacking of EVMs,” he said.

Swamy was also suspicious of Sait winning 62,000 votes in the constituency. He said that when he went for campaigning, people had accused Sait of failing to develop the constituency. JD(S) candidate from the constituency Abdul Azeez also agreed with the suspicions and added that the offer from the hackers was indeed true. He said that a hacker had demanded Rs. 5 crore from him to rig the EVMs in his favour, but Azeez had not paid any attention to him. Congress leader M.K. Somashekar, who contested from Krishnaraja constituency and lost to S.A. Ramadas, also alleged hacking of EVMs. He believed that a team of four people had hacked the EVMs in NR and KR constituencies and expressed his disbelief over the entire election process.

 However, Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Abiram Shankar dismissed the allegations as false and asserted that it was impossible to hack EVMs and VVPATs. City Police Commissioner A Subramanyeshwar Rao opined that the candidates were making such comments only because they had lost the election. He said that there was no case registered or arrests made regarding the matter.