‘Disappointed’:IJA, FPA Distance Themselves From EVM Hacking Event

“We can say Ahmed disappointed. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have listened to him,” the statement said.

The press conference held in London by a ‘cyber security expert’ Syed Shuja who claimed that the EVMs used in Indian elections can be hacked and the 2014 general election were rigged has created ripples across political lines.

(Photo: The Quint)

The press conference held in London by a ‘cyber security expert’ Syed Shuja who claimed that the EVMs used in Indian elections can be hacked and the 2014 general election were rigged has created ripples across political lines.

The meet, that was jointly organised by the Indian Journalists' Association (IJA) (Europe) and Foreign Press Association (FPA) London has now been abandoned by both the organisations. After the FPA took to Twitter distancing itself from the event, the IJA, too, issued a statement saying that the conference was organised in good faith but Shuja “disappointed.”

“Both IJA and FPA organised the press meet – as we routinely do – in good faith. Following the controversy, FPA has "disassociated" itself from the event. Admittedly, the accusations made by Ahmed were very serious; which he could not substantiate them. He left a roomful of scribes highly skeptical, if not annoyed,” the statement said.

“On the face of it, Ahmed’s utterances via Skype left most journalists who listened to and questioned him unconvinced,” the statement added.

While saying that Shuja did produce documents that proved he was granted asylum in the United States, the statement questioned the basis of the asylum being granted and said that the answer to that lies only with Washington.

The statement also said that Shuja’s claims of his teammates getting killed in Hyderabad in 2014 were “chilling”, but cannot be verified till an inquiry is conducted regarding the same.

“People are unlikely to believe Ahmed until and unless he decisively demonstrates – which he had promised to do – that EVMs are not infallible,” the statement said.

“Kapil Sibal Did Not Participate in Any Way”

The statement further said that for the sake of transparency, invitations were sent to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and all the national parties recognised by the ECI but Kapil Sibal was the only one who turned up.

“Since invitations were sent to the concerned party presidents, I surmised Mr Sibal had been sent as an observer to the press conference. He sat in one of the back rows of the room; and did not participate in the proceedings in any way,” the statement said.

“I have now seen a statement from a Congress party spokesman, which says he attended the event in his personal capacity. I have also been told he had other matters to attend to in London; and the press conference was not the reason for his presence in the British capital,” it further read.

In hindsight we can say Ahmed (Shuja) disappointed. But that does not mean we should not have listened to him.

IJA Statement

Shuja’s Claims

Shuja on Monday claimed that the 2014 general election was "rigged" through the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which, he said, can be hacked.

Shuja also said he fled India in 2014 because he felt threatened in the country after the killing of some of his team members.

He claimed the telecom giant Reliance Jio helped the BJP to get low frequency signals to hack the EVMs.

He claimed he was part of a team at the public sector Electronic Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), which designed and developed the EVMs. He was presented at a press conference organised by the Indian Journalists' Association (Europe).

Shuja said that he was part of a team which designed the EVMs used in the 2014 elections. He said that he and his team were instructed by the ECIL to find out if EVMs could be hacked, and find out how to do this.

The cyber expert claimed that the EVMs were hacked by the BJP using a modulator which transmits military-grade frequency.

The cyber expert also claimed that BJP leader and union minister Gopinath Munde was "killed" because he was aware of EVM hacking in 2014 general elections. He also linked journalist Gauri Lankesh’s killing was related to the hacking.