News Social Media Tamil Nadu

Netizens have fun over DMK’s fears of ‘EVM hacking’

April 19, 2021
The Commune

As Tamil Nadu waits for May 2 for the election results to be declared, the DMK has been fretting over the outcome with many of its top leaders including its chief expressing concerns about Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) getting ‘hacked’.

On April 16, DMK Deputy General Secretary A. Raja, along with Rajya Sabha MP R.S. Bharathi and senior leader  Ponmudy submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo a complaint written by MK Stalin which alleged that “covered vehicles” in the name of mobile toilets and unauthorized persons were being allowed inside strong rooms used to store EVMs.

The DMK chief also said that many numbers of wi-fi connections are being found in active mode near these vehicles alleging that attempts are being made to ‘hack’ EVMs.

He also said that there have been instances of individuals entering the rooms, in Ramanathapuram, Neyveli and Tiruvallur.

“In Tiruvallur strong room campus, many unauthorised persons claiming to be computer instructors are allowed to come inside the premises, for undisclosed reasons. CCTV cameras were not working for around 30 metres,” he alleged.

These incidents have created high suspicion over the security /protocol provided in the strong room premises and thereby the safety of the polled EVMs is in question, DMK chief MK Stalin said in his letter.

After the DMK chief writing this letter, cadres from the DMK and its alliance parties  been going after vehicles with big metal containers. In one incident, the cadres cornered a container that was to be used for construction purposes. They let the vehicle go only after the police arriving at the spot and the owner showing that nothing was there inside.

Time and again, the Election Commission has said that there is no way EVM’s can be tampered with as it is a stand alone machine (just like a simple calculator) not connected to any network. However, political parties like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, have often resorted to blaming EVMs whenever their party has faced defeat. Now adding to the list of parties is DMK. It must be noted that the DMK swept the 2019 Lok Sabha elections grabbing 38 of the 39 seats with the same EVMs.

In light of the DMK’s fears of ‘EVM hacking’ netizens have been oozing out their creativity through funny memes, one liners and stories.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.