Now there is only some time left for the elections in Maharashtra. In view of this, the political temperature in the state is high. The campaign continues. Amidst all this, the electronic voting machine i.e. EVM is in the news again. Because a person has come forward who claims to be a whistleblower and is making headlines by making explosive claims about India’s EVMs.
Syed Shuja, who claims to have hacked EVM using US Department of Defense technology, is calling on the leaders of Maharashtra and luring his party to win the elections by hacking EVM. He claims to be a contract worker for the US Department of Defense.
He recently got in touch with a senior Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) MP. After this, the MP spoke to the Aaj Tak team and narrated the entire incident. The Aaj Tak Special Investigation Team contacted Shuja in his capacity as the parliamentarian’s personal assistant and investigated his claims. Meanwhile, it came to light that this is the same person who a few years ago had claimed that the government was influencing the elections through the EVMs and now he himself claims to do the same.
The Aaj Tak team contacted Shuja posing as the personal assistant of the MVA MP.
Reporter: As I told you in the message, he is one of our most important colleagues, who is taking care of his job, he is with me, he has work to give and he is confident but he wants to meet you face to face. So can I add them to a video call?
Syed Shuja: give me a minute
Reporter: I present to you, this is Alpesh ji. You must be saying that they have been given 102 seats. He wants to do this work on 75 seats.
Reporter 2 (as Alpesh): The number is between 63 and 75, we will let you know after discussing the final number.
Syed Shuja: It could be 63.
Reporter: 63 Are you saying it will be confirmed?
Syed Shuja: Yes, 63 will be confirmed.
Reporter: 63 What shall we name?
Syed Shuja: You give me the name. I have access to 63 machines out of 105. But I want details of VVPAT machine.
Reporter: So what will these 63 seats be? Can you tell me? So we can extract and prepare the details in it.
Syed Shuja: I have access to 281 of 288. But there are some places where frequency isolation is impossible.
Shuja not only claimed that he had made the party win by hacking EVM, but also demanded $6 million (approximately Rs 52-53 crore) in return.
Reporter: If we do it for 63 seats, how much will it cost?
Syed Shuja: At present, if we block access to the Signaling System 7 terminal, it will cost around 6 million 72 thousand rupees.
Reporter: Is it in US dollars or rupees?
Syed Shuja: This is in dollars. If we talk in Indian rupees, it is around 52 or 53 crores.
Shuja, who claims to have a PhD in mathematics, also spoke about frequency isolation and scanning areas and manipulating machines to manipulate EVM signals. However, these claims were found to be completely false and had no technical basis.
Shuja claimed he needed someone to carry a phone and access a special app that would scan the area and find a frequency that could be isolated. my
Reporter: Initially you had asked us for 20 people, how many people do you want now?
Syed Shuja: Between 60 and 64 people are needed on the ground.
Reporter 2 (Alpesh): What will these people do on the ground and what will their role be?
Syed Shuja: I’ll need to isolate the signal. Now 2G network is not working in India. All networks are 4G and 5G. So to isolate the 2G network I need the frequency 102 to 115.
Reporter 2 (Alpesh): So shall we hand you over to these people or will they remain your own people?
Syed Shuja: I want someone to take a special app on the phone and scan the area. This will tell me what frequency I need to isolate. A frequency used by police walkie-talkies. And the EVM frequency coincides almost the same in shortwave. So I need this information so that no one intercepts the frequency.
Reporter: What information would you need about EVMs?
Shuja: Which polling station will the control unit, voting unit and VVPAT go to? It comes in PDF and also has its sequence. The biggest challenge in EVM is the candidate and party sequence code. Just as the Congress has the INNP, the BJP has the INBP. It is different for regional parties. Each candidate has an associated sequence. Suppose there are 300 polling stations, of which the Congress candidate will be number 1 in the EVM with 50 seats. Of the other 50, only the Congress candidate can occupy the number 2 position. Now, if I work on 100 machines simultaneously, BJP will win with my hands. So I don’t want this. If I have the VVPAT details, I can find out which candidate is on the button. Request this information at the return office. They will give it to you.
Reporter: How will you hack after getting VVPAT information? Will this happen after voting?
Shuja: I will pre-program it and if it is pre-programmed in favor of the BJP, I will revert it when the broadcast starts on election day. I will intercept it and send a file (to the Election Commission) on my behalf and they will think it is their file.
Reporter: Can this be done on election day or recount day?
Shuja: Two or three days are important. Transmission occurs even if the EVM is not powered on. When the machine is opened, a new file appears and then the transmissions are counted. It’s easy for them. I have to stay alert for the next three days and scan every hour to see if transmission is occurring or not.
EVM whistleblower’s claims exposed
This is not the first time that Shuja has claimed that he can hack EVMs and manipulate the machines in favor of a party. On January 21, 2019, Syed Shuja held a press conference organized by the Indian Journalists Association (IJA) in London, where he made several explosive claims over a video call. Shuja alleged that he had worked with Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) from 2009 to 2014 and was part of the team that developed the EVMs used in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
He then said that these machines could be manipulated using specific frequencies, which could potentially lead to manipulation of election results. This hack was developed while he was working with Electronics Corporation of India Limited in 2013. Furthermore, he linked the EVM hack with communal clashes in Kishanbagh, Hyderabad, which was later refuted by the local police as baseless.
Shuja’s claims were not limited to the technical aspects of the EVM hack. He had also made the sensational allegation that the 2014 Lok Sabha elections were rigged in favor of the BJP.
Former Congress leader Kapil Sibal raised these claims as an issue and raised doubts on the reliability of the EVMs. Aaj Tak then investigated these claims and found them to be baseless. But five years after these claims, the same person has once again come into the limelight in the Maharashtra elections.
Election Commission rejects EVM hacking allegations
ECIL and the Electoral Commission immediately rejected Shuja’s allegations. ECIL issued a statement denying that Shuja had worked for the organization or was involved in the design and development of EVM between 2009 and 2014.
Rear Admiral (retd) Sanjay Chaudhary, chairman and managing director of ECIL, said there was no record of Shuja being a regular employee or associated with ECIL in any capacity. The Election Commission also rejected Shuja’s claims and filed a police complaint with the Delhi Police, based on which an FIR was registered against him. The Election Commission has consistently said that EVMs cannot be manipulated and Shuja’s allegations are baseless.
Verification of facts and criticism of claims.
Various experts and fact-checking initiatives have examined Shuja’s claims and found them to lack credibility. Hyderabad-based EVM expert Hari Krishna Prasad Vemuru, who was earlier involved in the EVM hacking debate, called Shuja’s arguments “illogical” and did not believe his claims.
Vemuru advocated opening up the EVM architecture to universities and ethical hackers so they can identify and fix any flaws.
Ajit Hatti, a Pune-based white hat hacker and advisor to the Indian Armed Forces on cryptology, also rejected Shuja’s claims. Hatti said Shuja’s claims about Jio using low-frequency signals to hack EVMs are incredible, especially when Jio was not operational during the 2014 elections and EVMs cannot communicate wirelessly.
Shuja makes false claims while in Canada
Shuja’s educational and professional credentials are also under scrutiny. He claims to have done a minor PhD in Mathematics from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTUH) and a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from Shadan College, Hyderabad. However, after investigation no record of him was found in these institutions.
Shuja, who is currently living under asylum in Chicago, says he works as a contractor for the US Department of Defense. The United States granted her asylum on March 1, 2018, after she alleged that she and her associates were attacked in Hyderabad after EVM rigging was detected during the 2014 elections. However, the veracity is yet to be verified. of these statements.
