Ex-Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar Counters Elon Musk’s EVMs Remarks, Says ‘Happy To Run A Tutorial’

New Delhi: Former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar strongly disagreed with Tesla Chief Elon Musk’s recent remark on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), in which Musk termed EVMs a “huge sweeping generalization” that holds no truth. In a sharp counter to Musk, Chandrasekhar stated that EVMs can be architected and built right, as India has done. In a post on X, he called out the SpaceX chief, saying that India “would be happy to run a tutorial” on EVMs.

In his recent tweet, Musk expressed his concerns about EVMs. He said that Electronic Voting Machines should be eliminated as the machines pose the risk of being hacked by humans or AI.

The former Union Minister jumped into the debate and argued that the Tesla CEO’s view may be applicable to America or other places where they use regular compute platforms to make EVMs that are connected to the Internet. He also highlighted the fact that ‘EVM hacking’ is not the case in India, where these machines are custom-designed, secure, and isolated from any network or media.

“This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. @elonmusk’s view may apply to the US n other places – where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet-connected Voting machines,” Chandrasekhar said in a post on X.

He said, “Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media – No connectivity, no Bluetooth, wifi, Internet. ie there is no way in. Factory-programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed.”

“Electronic voting machines can be architected and built right as India has done. We would be happy to run a tutorial Elon,” the Minister said.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar had notably served as the Minister of State for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in Modi Cabinet 2.0.

His response came after Musk made a statement on social media, saying that the electronic voting machines should be eliminated.

“We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high,” Musk had said earlier, raising concerns about the EVMs.

In India’s recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, several opposition leaders had alleged that there was a possibility of EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) being hacked.

However Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar after the results emerged said, “Now, it (result) is in front of everyone. Let the EVM rest till the next elections… It is a trustable thing which keeps on doing its work…”