Only NCP, CPI-M to accept EVM hacking challenge

New Delhi: The NCP and the CPI-M will participate in the Election Commission's challenge on June 3 to test the credibility of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The EVM challenge in which doubting political parties have been given an opportunity to prove that the EVMs can be hacked, will be held between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the Election Commission said in a statement. The deadline expired on Friday for seven national parties and more than 40 state parties to send their interest to participate in the challenge.

The Election Commission, which said that only the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has nominated three representatives for participation in the challenge, later said that after rechecking, it found that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had also agreed to participate.

In all, eight parties sent their response to the ECI till 5 p.m., when the deadline expired, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal's message about its willingness to participate only came at 5.39 p.m. and was hence rejected.

The Aam Aadmi Party and Congress raised some issues and had not expressed their interest in participating in the challenge as per existing framework, commission sources said. The Communist Party of India, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal only expressed their interest in observing the challenge.

The Election Commission in its challenge has not allowed parties to attempt tampering of an EVM's motherboard, citing which the AAP decided not to participate in the challenge. The Congress also wrote to the EC, asking for access to all the components of an EVM, including the motherboard.