Mumbai: EC Files Complaint Against Man Over EVM Hack Claim

Mumbai Cyber Police has lodged an FIR at South Region Cyber Police Station against a man featured in a viral social media video making false claims about hacking and tampering with electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in Maharashtra assembly elections. The FIR was registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the IT Act on November 30 following a complaint by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Maharashtra.

The Election Commission (EC) officials identified the man as Syed Shuja.

The EC has maintained that EVMs are standalone machines that cannot be connected to any network, including WiFi or Bluetooth, ensuring their immunity to external manipulation.

It has also stressed that EVMs are completely tamper-proof.

“In a similar incident involving false claims, an FIR was lodged on the direction of the EC against the same person in 2019 in Delhi who is hiding in some other country,” the office of the Maharashtra CEO said in a post on X.

“Delhi and Mumbai police are actively investigating the case and taking necessary steps to identify and apprehend anyone in India who is in contact with such individuals or complicit in these malicious activities”, an EC official said.

Such actions are a serious offence and no one involved will be spared, the official said.