Gujarat polls: WiFi service suspended near EVMs in Surat after Congress leader complaints of hacking

Congress nominee Ashok Jariwala filed a complaint fearing a possibility of tampering with the EVMs stored inside the strong room.

SURAT: A Congress candidate from the Kamrej Assembly seat of Gujarat on Sunday complaint of possible hacking and tampering of EVMs used in recently held state assembly polls following which the authorities suspended the WiFi service at a college here. 

The WiFi service was suspended on the campus of the Gandhi Engineering College, situated in the Athwa Lines locality here.

"We detected that a WiFi network was available near the strong room (in the college), after which we asked the collector to take action," Congress nominee Ashok Jariwala said. 

He said they had made a similar complaint two days back, after which the collector had ordered the suspension of the WiFi service on the campus. 

Following the complaint, Surat Collector and District Election Officer Mahendra Patel ordered the college authorities to suspend the WiFi service on their campus.

The complainant feared a possibility of tampering with the EVMs stored inside the strong room, using WiFi, Patel said.

The EVMs from six Assembly constituencies -- Olpad, Mandvi, Mahuva, Vyara, Kamrej and Mangrol -- are kept in the strong room of the college.

Following the exit poll results shown by the news channels, which predicted a majority to the ruling BJP in the recently-held election, several opposition leaders, including those from the Congress, 
Patidar quota agitation spearhead Hardik Patel and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, had raised the issue of a possibility of EVM hacking.

Earlier today, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) Hardik Patel said in a post on Twitter that if a human body, made by God, could be tampered with, then why not an EVM, which is made by humans? "If ATMs can be hacked, why not an EVM!!! (sic)," he asked.

He also alleged that there had been attempts to hack EVMs using its "source code" in the Patidar-dominated and tribal areas of the state.

On Saturday, the PAAS leader said in a tweet that 140 software engineers of an Ahmedabad-based company were preparing to hack 5,000 EVMs.

He also claimed that hacking and tampering of EVMs have been attempted in several Patidar-dominated areas in Gujarat.