Syed Shuja never worked for us, wasn’t involved in EVM development: ECIL

During his address at EVM hackathon event in London, Shuja had claimed that the entire 2014 Lok Sabha election was rigged, and so were the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

The Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) on Tuesday issued a statement saying that self-proclaimed cyber expert Syed Shuja, who claimed to have proof of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) being hacked in India, was never its employee. Addressing an EVM hackathon event in London through a video call on Monday, the self-proclaimed cyber expert had claimed that he was an employee of the public sector undertaking.

During his address at the event in London, Shuja had claimed that the entire 2014 Lok Sabha election was rigged, and so were the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

Dismissing his claims, ECIL chairman and managing director Rear Adm (retd) Sanjay Chaubey wrote to Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain, confirming that Syed Shuja was neither a full-time employee of ECIL nor was he associated in the design and development of EVMs between 2009 to 2014.

“The records of this company have been verified and it is found that Mr Syed Shuja has neither been in the rolls of ECIL as a regular employee nor was he in any way associated in the design and development of EVMs in ECIL produced between 2009 to 2014,” read the letter by ECIL chairman and managing director Rear Adm. (retd) Sanjay Chaubey.

This comes even as the Election Commission of India has also taken a strong note of the claims made by the cyber expert. The ECI has written to the Delhi Police, asking them to file an FIR and investigate thoroughly the claims made by Shuja.

“Through media reports, it has come to the notice of the commission that allegedly one Mr Syed Shuja claimed (at the event in London) that he was part of the EVM design team and he can hack the EVMs used in elections in India,” said the election commission in its letter to Delhi Police.

(With PTI Inputs)