Only CPI-M, NCP to take part in June 3 EVM hackhathon as last date to apply ends Friday

New Delhi: The deadline for political parties to ‘apply’ for participation in the Election Commission’s EVM hackathon ended at 5:00 pm on Friday, however, the poll panel has received only one application so far. 

The media report claimed that only one political party, i.e. NCP approached the Election Commission to take part in its open challenge which commences on June 3 and is likely to continue for five days.

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. The seven recognised national and 49 state parties have until 5pm on Friday to apply.

It is to be noted that Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which accused the Election Commission of "running away from a no-holds barred hackathon", is unlikely to take up the Commission's 
challenge to demonstrate that its Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be tampered with.

In a letter to the poll commission, AAP said it had promised a hackathon but with "rules and regulations".

"Hackers are invited to test the security of any system, using any tools available. Such ethical hacking is to help understand loopholes, so that they can be removed in the future," it said.

It wondered why the EC -- "an institution that has always protected democracy" -- was not ready for an open hackathon to safeguard the country's election process.

The letter, to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, was in response to EC's rejection of AAP's demand that it be allowed to "tamper" with the EVM motherboard at the challenge.

"Why is the Election Commission running away from no- holds barred hackathon," it asked.

Following this, AAP is unlikely to participate in the EVM challenge on June 3, party sources said. The last date to participate in the exercise ends today.