New Delhi, Jan 22 (UNI) Alleging that the EVM hackathon in London was arranged by the Congress, the BJP said on Tuesday that the principal Opposition party has tried to defame the popular mandate of India.
'Congress had organised the EVM hackathon in London in which a cyber expert claimed that the 2014 general elections were rigged,' Union IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters at a press conference at party headquarters here.
He alleged that the Congress was trying to damage the prestige of the constitutional and statutory institutions of the country in a systematic manner.
'India's Election Commission is being discussed all over the world today and the Congress party is making an attack on that constitutional entities,' he said.
Mr Prasad questioned that in what capacity was Congress leader Kapil Sibal present at the EVM hackathon and alleged that he had gone there to monitor the event.
An Indian cyber expert, seeking political asylum in the US, had claimed on Monday that the 2014 general election was "rigged" through the electronic voting machines, which, he claimed can be hacked.
Ashish Ray -- who arranged the press conference in London -- was a dedicated Congressman, and is a contributor in National Herald, Mr Prasad said.
'He has praised Rahul Gandhi a lot in his column in National Herald,' he said and read out several tweets praising Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Mr Prasad said he had never heard of this hacker in his tenure of four-and-a-half years as minister.
The hacker did not offer any proof nor did he offer himself to questions of journalists present, the BJP leader said, adding that yet, he levelled huge allegations against the BJP government at the Centre.
He said the Congress programme was defaming the popular mandate of 2014 general elections.
'The UPA was in power when general elections took place, What logic is there?
'EVMs were ok when UPA was in power, when Ms Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav and Mamata Banerjee won. the machines were working all right when Arvind Kejriwal won but they were not working when the BJP won in 2014,' he asked the logic in the argument.
Mr Prasad said in 2017, when EVM discussion came up, the Election Commission had organised an open challenge in Delhi for three days, but nobody came to accept the challenge, not even that hacker Syed Shuja, who claimed he was a part of the team.
The Minister said the BJP charge was that apprehending that Congress will lose general elections and so, they were looking for an alibi.
He wondered whether yesterday's event was 'Cambridge Analytica number 2'.
Questioning Trinamool Congress Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for creating hurdles in BJP president Amit Shah's rally in the state, he said 'why are you afraid of fighting?'
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has tweeted on Monday about the Congress backed-EVM hackathon in London rubbishing the claims of opposition parties that the voting machines can be hacked.
"After Rafale, the non-existent loan waiver to 15 industrialists – the next big lie – EVM hacking. Was the Election Commission and millions of Staffers involved in manufacturing, programming of EVMs and conduct of elections during the UPA Government in collusion with the BJP – absolutely rubbish.
'Does the Congress feel that the people are so gullible that they will swallow any garbage? Insanity in the Congress party is increasingly becoming contagious," he has said.
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