EVM machines cannot be tampered with: Hyderabad forensics lab to Bombay HC

The Hyderabad Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has informed the Bombay High Court that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) cannot be tampered with or manipulated.

The lab made the remarks in the report submitted to the court after the court ordered the examination of all the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used at a booth in Pune during the 2014 Maharashtra assembly elections.

The examination of EVMs were ordered by Justice Mridula Bhatkar while hearing the plea of Congress candidate, Abhay Chhajed, who had contested the election from Parvati Assembly constituency but had lost it.

The Congress candidate said he had received much less votes than expected from booth numbers 185 and 242 in the constituency.

Chhajed said in his application that 89 voters from booth numbers 185 and 242 have given an affidavit stating that they had voted for him, but he actually got only 69 votes from the said booths.

The bench had directed Pune's district collector on May 4 to send the EVMs from booth number 185 of the Parvati constituency to Hyderabad's Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to carry out the tests.