New Delhi, January 21: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has threatened legal action in response to the "EVM hackathon" organised in London by US-based expert Syed Shuja. The polling body, denying the tampering charge, said the electronic voting machines used in the nation are secured and cannot be manipulated in favour of a particular party or candidate.

ECI's response came shortly after Syed, while addressing the press in London, demonstrated how the voting machine used for polls in India could be "hacked". He alleged that out of the 282 seats which the BJP won in the Lok Sabha polls of 2014, results of 201 constituencies were manipulated in the party's favour through "EVM rigging". '2014 Lok Sabha Elections Were Rigged...Gopinath Munde Was Murdered as He Knew About It', Says US-Based Expert Syed Shuja.

“It has come to our notice that an event claiming to demonstrate EVMs used by ECI can be tampered with, has been organised in London. ECI has been wary of becoming a party to this motivated slugfest and stands by empirical facts about foolproof nature of ECI EVMs," said the statement issued by the Commission.

According to the ECI, the claims of hacking the voting machines made by "experts" cannot be validated as the EVMs used in Indian elections are exclusive manufactured by the "Bharat Electronics Ltd & Electronics Corporation of India. London EVM Hackathon a Congress Ploy to Defame India, Syed Shuja Their 'Freelancer': Union Minister MA Naqvi.

"There are rigorous Standard Operating Procedures observed under supervision of a Committee of technical experts constituted in 2010," the ECI said. Each machines are assigned a separate code and will render them useless if attempts of tampering are made.

The ECI further stressed in its statement that the Commission would take suitable action against Syed for levelling "baseless" allegations.

"It is being separately examined as to what legal action can and should be taken in the matter,” the Commission said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 21, 2019 10:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).