After AAP, now Cong backs out of EC\'s AVM challenge

The NCP, led by Sharad Pawar, is the only political formation to participate in the hackathon challenge arranged by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to prove that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with.

After AAP, the most vociferous critic of EVMs, the main Opposition Congress, too, has refused to participate in the event.

The commission had on May 20 announced that it would conduct the hackathon from June 3, where technocrats and representatives of political parties would be invited to try and hack into its EVM. In a letter to the commission on the last day of its deadline for the parties to give three names for the hackathon, the Congress's communications department chief Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "Unfortunately, the extensive terms and conditions that this challenge imposes prevent participants to conduct a thorough test of the EVMs." The party practically walked out of the hackathon by not giving any names for participation in the challenge.

Meanwhile, AAP in a letter, has accused the commission of "running away from a no-holds-barred hackathon".