Thaindian News

Kolkata, Aug 27 (IANS) Terming the arrest of Hari Prasad, a Hyderabad-based activist who claimed that EVMS could be tampered with, as “a danger to the sanctity of voting”, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajnath Singh Friday slammed the government’s silence on the issue.
“The government should not forget that those with the right to rule have come to power through voting. The government of the day will lose the moral right to rule if people have a bad perception about EVMs,” he said a media meet here.

Demanding that the vulnerability of EVMS be looked into in a transparent manner, Rajnath Singh regretted that no effort is being made to keep a tab on election fraud.

He said political parties across the board have raised the issue of vulnerability of EVMs.

“There is a debate going on about whether EVMs are tamperproof or not…In European countries like Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Ireland, voting through EVMs has been banned because they feel EVMs can be tampered with”.

“But in our country, the government is silent on an issue which is very important and sensitive to our democracy,” he said.

On the arrest of Hari Prasad in connection with the alleged theft of an EVM from Mumbai Aug 21, the BJP leader said it was a “flimsy charge”.

Hari Prasad had sought to demonstrate how EVMs can be tampered with.

“The Election Commission also sought a presentation from Hari Prasad and two of his associates from abroad. But instead of correcting the problems of EVMs, he was arrested on flimsy charges. His arrest has put the sanctity of voting in danger,” Rajnath Singh said.

Hari Prasad, technical coordinator of VeTA (Citizens for Verifiability, Transparency and Accountability in Elections), was nabbed from Hyderabad.