Unraveling the myth: Experts debunk 'absurdity' of EVM hack theories

New Delhi: Following the sixth phase of voting in the Lok Sabha polls, as the Congress-led Opposition continues to cast doubts over EVMs, experts have countered the conspiracy theory with data to support their stance.

According to experts, the sheer scale of the electoral process makes the claims of the EVM hack or Form 17C conspiracy theorists highly impractical.

With 486 seats having either voted or been decided up to the 6th phase of Lok Sabha elections, there were about thousands of polling stations per seat, poll analysts say, sharing data on X (formerly Twitter).

Indeed, approximately 9 lakh polling stations have participated in voting thus far.

In each constituency, there are dozens of candidates who are allowed to have polling agents at each polling station.

Let's consider an average of 10 candidates per seat (although the actual number is around 15.3), say experts.

"Let's also suppose one polling agent (although 3 are actually allowed) per candidate per polling station. This would result in 10 polling agents per polling station. With approximately 9 lakh polling stations that have participated in voting, that would mean nearly 90 lakh polling agents," says an analyst.

If one takes into account a realistic perspective and assumes that independent candidates cannot afford to have one agent per polling station.

Only the top 3 contesting parties can manage this at every station. Even under this scenario, there would still be 3 polling agents per station, he adds.

With 9 lakh stations, that totals to approximately 27 lakh polling agents.

Thus, over 27 lakh individuals, excluding the candidates, have each carried out the following tasks:

a) Inspected every Form 17C provided at every polling station by the ECI.

b) Observed every voter who has cast their vote and not lodged any complaints regarding inconsistencies between their vote and the VVPAT slip -- remarkably, not a single complaint has been reported.

c) Accessed the precise voter list per polling station and, in aggregate, for every constituency at the candidate level.

An expert on social media argues: "The Congress party think tank, with figures like Kapil Sibal and other members of the Congress ecosystem, purportedly suggests that over 27 lakh people (possibly nearing a crore in reality) are engaged in a conspiracy with PM Narendra Modi and the BJP to tamper with the election results."

Ridiculing the notion, he questions: "If around one crore individuals are actively colluding without any evidence of how or why they would do so, particularly considering the unlikely collaboration between polling agents of Congress or CPI-M with the BJP, what term accurately characterises figures like Kapil Sibal and others?"