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Latest Election Commission findings deal severe blow to Kejriwal’s allegations of EVM fraud

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Latest Election Commission findings deal severe blow to Kejriwal’s allegations of EVM fraud

After the results of the 2017 Assembly Elections were declared, AAP’s kingpin Arvind Kejriwal has been working overtime to somehow prove that faulty EVM’s were the reason his party came a distant 2nd in the Punjab elections and lost deposits in 38 out of 39 seats in Goa.

In his endeavour to prove EVM tampering, Kejriwal had spread an outright lie about VVPAT equipped EVM’s, and had called for the use of ballot paper, demanding that VVPAT slips should be counted to ascertain if the election was free and fair:


In the same press conference Kejriwal had alleged that 25-30% of AAP votes in Punjab might have been transferred to the BJP-SAD via rigging. Kejriwal had also claimed that the sole intention of the BJP was to not allow the AAP to come to power and also claimed that since a SAD victory would have made things obvious, they made sure that it was Congress which won. Hence he had called for a counting of VVPAT slips which would have ensured that fraud would have been caught. This is how the VVPAT helps in detecting fraud:

VVPAT is a system where the machine prints a paper slip after a voter presses the button on the EVM and the voter physically verifies if the paper slip has the name and symbol of the same party (and candidate) he voted for. It can basically make the election process tamper proof as it takes care of two scenarios:

  1. Say a voter pressed the AAP button on the EVM and the VVPAT slip which the voter can see, showed the name and symbol of AAP. But the EVM which Modi had rigged ended up attributing the vote to the BJP. This is what Kejriwal basically alleges happened and a counting of VVPAT slip would have ensured that the truth came out. This can be easily checked by tallying electronic votes with the slips.
  2. The voter voted for AAP but the VVPAT slip showed BJP hence the voter can raise a hue and cry then and there.

The Election Commission counted the VVPAT slips. So did any fraud emerge?

Sadly for Kejriwal and co, there was no fraud. According to this report the paper trail in Punjab and Goa tallied with EVM results in Punjab and Goa. The analysis of results in all constituencies in Goa and 33 seats in Punjab having the facilities of VVPAT showed little variation with respect to other constituencies which didn’t have paper trail. In the 33 seats of Punjab with VVPAT, Congress won 20 seats and AAP won in 6 seats. Also when it comes to Goa the results were the same with Congress winning 17 seats, BJP 13 and the rest winning 10 seats.

Hence going by the above report, Kejriwal’s theory of EVM tampering doesn’t hold true and the elections were indeed conducted in a free and fair manner. We need a new conspiracy now, perhaps aliens?

You’re defaming us to gain mileage for Republic: Times Group sends legal notice to Arnab

OpIndia Staff
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You’re defaming us to gain mileage for Republic: Times Group sends legal notice to Arnab

Looks like there is now an all-out war between the Times of India Group (BCCL) and Arnab Goswami, who was editor-in-chief of their English news channel Times Now.

Arnab left Times Now in November last year and soon it was known that he will start his own news channel Republic TV. The new TV channel is scheduled to launch in a few weeks’ time.

Recently, an interview of Arnab Goswami was published in Man’s World India magazine. We had reported excerpts from the same interview on OpIndia.com with our comments on April 12, 2017.

Times Group has now sent a legal notice to Arnab Goswami, to his company ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, to the Directors of his company, to the Company Secretary of his company, to the Man’s World magazine, and, believe it or not, to OpIndia.com!

In the legal notice, Times Group has accused Arnab Goswami of issuing libellous and defamatory statements that bring disrepute to the Times Group, which has a “global reputation and substantial goodwill as a fair, independent and realistic media house across varied platforms”.

The legal notice further declares that Times Now “is known among the viewers for true journalism and content it airs, basis the reliable information for its viewers”. It says that Arnab Goswami’s interview and comments made by him have caused “significant loss and prejudice” to the Times Group.

Man’s World magazine and OpIndia.com too have been accused by the Times Group of being a party in this defamation – a charge we at OpIndia.com deny. Nevertheless, we have removed the parts Times Group finds libellous.

From the notice it is clear that Times Group has not taken kindly to the comments made by Arnab Goswami, where he hints that a filmmaker had called a media proprietor to complain about a TV channel and the proprietor had got scared. This has possibly been deemed as a reference to Times Group and its Chairman.

The notice alleged that the interview was a deliberate attempt to demean Times Group and Times Now to gain mileage for the upcoming channel (Republic TV).

The notice further claims that the interview had levelled serious allegations accusing the Times Group of indulging in compromised journalism, and accused Goswami of making contradictory statements in the interview. The notice seeks withdrawal of the statements, deletion of the interview, and an apology.

If the defendants don’t comply with the aforementioned demands, the legal notice warns of civil and criminal proceedings including seeking monetary damages. The notice also asks the defendants, including us, to pay Rs 55,000 to Times Group as they had to bear this cost while drafting the notice.

Meanwhile it appears that this is not the only legal notice Arnab Goswami has been served. Earlier today, Arnab’s upcoming channel shared an audio message by Arnab where he says that a leading media house has sent him a 6-page letter warning against use of the popular phrase “The Nation Wants To Know” because they own it:


In the above audio message, Arnab claims that these legal threats are aimed at stalling and delaying the launch of his new TV channel and that his team members have been harassed and even threatened with “untoward action”.

“Do everything you can, spend all the money you have and arrest me. I am waiting right now in my studio floor. Come, enforce your threat.” Arnab says in his message.

Sonu Nigam attacked and abused after he stirs a debate on Azaan and religious noise pollution

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Sonu Nigam attacked and abused after he stirs a debate on Azaan and religious noise pollution

Singer Sonu Nigam stirred up a storm in the early hours of Monday after he tweeted out his exasperation against early morning sounds of Azaan which are delivered on loudspeakers on Mosques everyday:


This opposition of Sonu Nigam to the practice of playing Azaan, earned him the wrath of many who proceeded to abuse, attack and curse him:


Apart from making a moral case, Sonu Nigam might also be legally correct when he calls for the scrapping of loudspeakers for delivering religious sermons. In a 2015 the Bombay High Court had observed that there were about 822 Mosques and 90 Temples which did not have licenses to operate loudspeakers.

Also in 2014 the Bombay High court had called for a removal of Illegal loudspeakers from Religious structures in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai the order which was also welcomed by Muslim leaders.

While the ruling applies to all religions, hardly any religion seems to be following the rules. Also for those who are indulging in Whataboutery, about whether Sonu has only singled out Islam, in 2014 Sonu had posted about the noise and the lack of cleanliness during Ganesh visarjan.

But, all social media users were not vile. Some even suggested a solution:


And if Sonu doesn’t like the above solution, he can follow so-called journalist Zakka Jacob’s advice to filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri:

A brief history of prohibition in India

OpIndia Staff
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A brief history of prohibition in India

BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have declared that they will enforce prohibition of alcohol, but albeit in a phased manner. There is not timeline yet for implementing the ban in both the states. Thus, as of now, none of the BJP ruled states have introduced total prohibition during its tenure. Total prohibition of alcohol, commonly called prohibition, makes manufacturing, consumption, possession, purchase, sale, transport, import and export of alcohol an illegal act.

However, state governments ruled by Congress to socialist parties to caste centric Lohiate parties have enforced near total prohibition. Prohibition has become a tried and tested measure with some government introduced it and later another repealed it. The Church has been a major player in the protest movements against the repeal of prohibition.

India too has a long history of various states experimenting with various laws on liquor, ranging from total prohibition to restricted sale of alcohol to phased closure of liquor shops.

As liquor contributes sizeable revenue to the exchequer, it has never been an easy decision for any state government to impose the prohibition. Moreover, there is widespread smuggling and illegal sale of liquors in the states where prohibition are imposed, thus defeating the very purpose. Presently, there are four states – Bihar, Gujarat, Nagaland and Mizoram – and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, where total prohibition is in place.

Historically, liquor was banned in various states during the pre-Independence era. Soon after India attained Independence, various state governments lifted the ban.

Here is a look at history of prohibition laws in various states.

1. Bihar: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has imposed total prohibition on liquor. The prohibition came to effect from 1 April, 2016. The new prohibition law has a jail term up to seven years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for the consumption of alcohol. In addition, the new law has the provision for capital punishment for those who engaged in manufacturing or trading of illicit liquor if its consumption leads to casualty. The law is termed draconian.

Reports suggest that the liquor ban will bring a loss of a whopping Rs 6,000 crore to Bihar’s exchequer. Prohibition is a fulfilment of the poll promise made by Nitish Kumar ahead of the 2015 Assembly elections. Bihar had also tried to implement prohibition when Karpoori Thakur was the Chief Minister in 1977-78, but failed.

2. Haryana: Haryana imposed a total prohibition when Bhajan Lal of Haryana Janhit Congress was the chief minster in 1996. Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Party government lifted the prohibition in 1998. Repealing prohibition was a major poll plank of Bansi Lal in 1996 Assembly elections. A Business Standard report suggests that the ineffective imposition of prohibition has cost the state coffer Rs 1,200 crore that time.

3. Gujarat: Bombay State had implemented prohibition between 1948 and 1950, and again in 1958. Gujarat has a sumptuary law in force that proscribes the manufacture, storage, sale and consumption of alcohol. The legislation came into force since 1 May, 1960 when Gujarat was carved out of Bombay State.

4. Maharashtra: Though Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 is still in force in Maharashtra, the licensing regime in state in quite liberal in granting licenses to vendors and traders of liquor.

5. Andhra Pradesh: Madras State had implemented total prohibition when C Rajagopalachari was the Chief Minister in 1952. After Andhra Pradesh became a state, then Chief Minister NT Rama Rao introduced the prohibition law afresh in 1994. In 1997, N Chandrababu Naidu government repealed the prohibition.

6. Tamil Nadu: Even after it was carved out of Madras State, Tamil Nadu continued to adopt total prohibition until the DMK government led by M Karunanidhi repealed it in 1971. But the same government later imposed prohibition in 1974. Again in 1981, the AIADMK government led by MG Ramachandran lifted prohibition.

7. Kerala: During Oommen Chandy’s Congress regime in 2014, Kerala implemented prohibition in phased manner. As per the liquor policy of the Chandy government, bars in Kerala had to renew licenses every year. The policy resulted in closure of as many as 418 bars. Bar owners lobby vociferously opposed the policy. A major scandal came to the light reported with several ministers were bribed by the bar owners in order to procure licences.

Now, the Left front government led by Pinarayi Vijayan is batting for “abstinence” in place of prohibition. “We are for abstinence, not prohibition. Prohibition leads to many socio-legal problems. Wherever liquor has been prohibited, there is a tendency to consume through illegal means,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told in an interview to Mint.

8. Manipur: RK Ranbir Singh government in Maniput enforced total prohibition in 1991. In 2002, Okram Ibobi Singh government partially lifted the prohibition. The state Legislative Assembly passed the Manipur Liquor Prohibition (Amendment) Bill in the same year lifting prohibition in five hill districts of the state – Chandel, Churachandpur, Senapati, Tamenglong and Ukhrul.

9. Nagaland: Nagaland has a total prohibition on liquor. Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act (NLTP) banned the possession, sale, consumption and manufacture of alcohol in 1989. However, there are some restricted permits for consumption of alcohols by foreigners and NRIs.

The enforcement of the ban is at lax as excise department and state police are turning a blind eye to the illegal sale and smuggling of liquor. Country made liquor is readily available in various parts of the state.

10. Mizoram: Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1995, banned the sale and consumption of alcohol. In 2007, the Act was amended to allow wine to be made from guavas and grapes. But the restrictions on alcohol continued. On 10 July, 2014, the state Legislative Assembly passed the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Bill, 2014, easing the prohibition policy and replaced the MLTP Act. The Presbyterian Church had organised mass protests opposing the move.

11. Lakshadweep: Lakshadweep is the only union territory of India that has a total prohibition on consumption and sale of liquor. However, the consumption of alcohol is permitted in the uninhabited island of Bangaram.

Barkha Dutt announces new business venture, tags one Noman Siddiqui whose old tweets go viral where he wanted PM Modi hanged

OpIndia Staff
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Barkha Dutt announces new business venture, tags one Noman Siddiqui whose old tweets go viral where he wanted PM Modi hanged

Journalist Barkha Dutt who had recently quit NDTV, has now decided to float her own venture in the form of “Mojo” which is touted to be a multi-media content and events company. Barkha in her own words describes the venture to be baby steps towards creative independence:

Our just-born child. A multi media content & events company. We’ll update you on our evolution as we grow.Wish us luck! With @nomansiddiqui pic.twitter.com/imeNvWE7O1

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) April 15, 2017


In the venture Barkha choose to tag a person called Noman Siddiqui. While it is generally advisable to go in with a partner while launching a startup Barkha’s choice in this case, this move might end up haunting the venture, even before it has actually begun.

Noman as it turns out is not a fan of Narendra Modi. While it is perfectly all right to not like someone, social media users found out that Noman apparently harbors such a pathological hatred against Modi that he wanted him to be hanged. He had expressed his wish in a tweet which (among others) was dug out by Twitter user CrimeMasterV2.

In 2013 when terrorist Afzal Guru was hanged for his crimes, Noman had shared an article which took pains to whitewash Afzal Guru. Noman in his tweet put out a statement about Afzal caring for universal brotherhood which he (Noman) claimed Modi too did. Hence according to that logic he proceeded to ask as to why Modi shouldn’t also be hanged.

Noman as it turns out had also once equated Modi a democratically elected leader with crazed dictator Muammur Gaddafi:

Even after such grave allegations, Barkha tried to tone down the matter and proceeded to mock CrimeMasterV2:

@CrimeMasterV2 you must have a lot of time to go through articles & tweets from four years ago. However am sure thats not what he meant or would say at all

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) April 16, 2017


Even though Noman had clearly tweeted his thoughts Barkha claimed that he hadn’t actually meant that:

@CrimeMasterV2 I have now repeated four times that I am sure that is not what he meant- but i certainly dont delve into years of tweets like you do?

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) April 16, 2017


Barkha’s claim that she didn’t delve into the past was also busted when CrimeMaster proceeded to point out how she had chosen to write a whole article based on Yogi Adityanath’s alleged past utterances:

@BDUTT @ekvichar_ Hypocrisy alert!! Barkha wrote an entire article about Yogi’s past utterances but preaches others not to look into his partner’s past!! pic.twitter.com/6nMKeXuf3B

— Ishant Sharma (@CrimeMasterV2) April 16, 2017


After all the outrage, Noman seems to have deactivated his account, maybe because he wanted to stop further skeletons from tumbling out of the closet?

UPDATE: Noman came back to Twitter, apologized for his earlier tweets, while Barkha Dutt clarified that he was not technically a business partner but a team member in her new venture. However, she had no answer to this:

@BDUTT @nomansiddiqui Ur comrade in arms apologised now not 5 years back after I exposed his hatred.To quote Barkha “apology is worthless.Language shd be exposed” pic.twitter.com/riCwW63oXW

— Ishant Sharma (@CrimeMasterV2) April 17, 2017



This isn’t the only time, Barkha’s startups have been in the news for the wrong reasons. Reportedly at the beginning of 2016, Shekhar Gupta and Barkha Dutt had announced their intention to launch a news media startup called The Print. Even though it was pegged as a joint venture, Barkha’s role in the same was questionable after her name was removed as Co-Founder from The Print’s twitter account. It is also believed that The Print turned out to be a nonstarter.

Let’s hope this new venture goes beyond Modi hate and doesn’t end up being a dud like the last one.

Update 2: The article has been updated to reflect the fact that Noman Siddiqui was not Barkha Dutt’s partner in venture.

Sports-persons come out in support of Armed forces in Kashmir in midst of ‘video-wars’

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Sports-persons come out in support of Armed forces in Kashmir in midst of ‘video-wars’

Recently citizens were shocked after a video dated 9th April surfaced in which Kashmiri youths were seen assaulting CRPF Jawans who showed extreme restraint and did not react to their constant badgering. This had prompted various sportspersons like Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Mohammad Kaif to come out and show solidarity with the paramilitary forces.

This though didn’t go down well with some, which resulted in Gambhir getting attacked by trolls and Sehwag getting his words twisted by a media house.

A few days after the incident with the paramilitary forces, the army came up with a novel way of dealing with stone pelters and other protesters when it proceeded to tie up a pelter in front of its jeep to discourage others from throwing stones.

This innovative measure by the Army received flak from some commentators from the left but also received the support of the various sports-persons who gave a thumbs up to the Army’s actions.

Wrestler Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt made statements:


Even ex-army person and athlete Surendra Poonia also made a strong statement:


The support by the above sportspersons is also commendable for another reason. Recently during the Gurmehar Kaur fiasco, both Yogeshwar Dutt and Babita Phogat were targeted for protesting against anti-Indian statements. But the high pitched ridicule and abuse doesn’t seem to have deterred them and they haven’t held back from taking the so-called politically incorrect line. Let’s hope the “hardly literate” athletes don’t earn the wrath of Javed Akhtar again.

When a common user’s suggestion for BHIM app was adopted by NPCI

Sharath Chandra
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When a common user’s suggestion for BHIM app was adopted by NPCI

The bold move of demonetization by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aimed at multiple goals. Increasing digital transactions is considered as one of the most important goal among many other goals like curbing black money and stopping crime financing.

On the front of digital transactions or the aim to move towards Cashless India, the government has come up with a couple of schemes like Lucky Grahak Yojna and Digi-dhan Vyapar Yojna. These two schemes were just like any other referral schemes to market a product. However, the government didn’t stop here they went a step ahead and launched BHIM app (Bharat Interface for Money) to enable fast, reliable, secure and easy to use cashless payments system through any smartphone.

BHIM app is also a tribute to Baba Saheb Ambedkar, who was a sharp economist apart from a political thinker. The best part of this, it also works with a feature phone by entering the USSD *99#. The USSD has almost all the features of that of BHIM app.

Here’s how to set up a BHIM account:

A user needs to have a smartphone, internet access along with UPI enabled bank account. The user should also have a valid debit card with his mobile number linked to the bank account. If you are ready with all this, then you are ready to go.

During the registration, the app will send an SMS from your phone to verify your number (this typically costs Rs.1.50 or even less based on your mobile service provider). BHIM is available both on Android and iOS. One important thing to note at the time of registration is – the mobile number which is linked to the bank account should be present in the same phone as that of BHIM app because it will auto-verify the mobile number, unlike by sending an OTP that is used by other players.

BHIM uses VPA (Virtual Payment Address) of the form xyz@upi or 9014949xxx@upi to send and receive money.

Requirements for usig BHIM app

There are three reasons why you should use BHIM:

  1. BHIM is quite different from Payment wallets like PayTm or FreeCharge. Wallets deduct money from your bank account and credit them into their wallets before making a transaction. There is no mediator like a wallet in BHIM app, transactions take place directly from the bank accounts and refunds also will be credited into the bank accounts directly.
  2. No more waiting for an OTP before doing a successful transaction because BHIM uses predefined PIN to make transactions. It is the easiest way to transact and takes less than a minute for a successful transaction. So, goodbye to those annoying 4-6 digit OTPs that sometime never arrive.
  3. Third and the final reason is security. It has two step verification. First is the “passcode” to open the app and the next is “Pin” to make the payment. Presently, both passcode and pin can be same for some banks but this will change in near future.

My Experience:

I have been using this app since January 2017 and have easily transacted more than 50 times. It is very fast and also works on 2G networks. There were some issues with the payments to the merchant sometimes but the money deducted was refunded instantly.

It is supported by wallets like PayTM and FreeCharge also. Presently, I am using this for every transaction that it supports. Out of excitement I even asked many of friends to try it out and guess what we pay money for each other with this app currently. The fact that money gets transferred instantly unlike NEFT & RTGS makes it unique from others. I request you people reading this to try it out and I’m sure you will love it.

Suggestions forwarded to the NPCI team:

Even though the app is very good, it can have some improvements. I sent three of them to the NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant who in turn forwarded the email to the team of BHIM. Following are the suggestions I have written to the development team of BHIM:

Email sent to NITI Ayog CEO regarding BHIM

This was on 20th February, Mr. Kant was quick to respond and forward it to the team of NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India, the non-profit umbrella organisation currently with 10 promoter banks including government-owned and private banks):

Response to my email on BHIM app

CEO of NPCI AP Hota too replied positively to my query:

NPCI CEO responds to user query about BHIM

After one and half months of wait, BHIM has been updated to version 1.3 with one my suggestion as the main update i.e. address book integration! COO of NPCI Dilip Abse confirmed this on twitter:



I can’t tell you how happy I was to see my suggestion becoming a reality! I request you all to try out the app because it is high time to ditch One Time Passwords!

Digvijay Singh just proved on Twitter why EVMs can’t be hacked

Editorial Desk
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Digvijay Singh just proved on Twitter why EVMs can’t be hacked

Chief Conspiracy Officer (unofficial) of the Congress party and former Chief Minister (official) of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijay Singh today sent out a series of tweets where he pitched in with his views on the possibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) being hacked or tampered with.

The tweets came at a time when leaders in Congress party are attacking each other over the EVM hack theory, with many senior leaders not happy with the party espousing this theory. Being a senior leader, Digvijay Singh tried to take a middle path in his tweets:


As one can see, Digvijay Singh tried not to make baseless allegations but use some logic and facts, which must be welcomed as it is so unlike him. With facts and logic increasingly not finding a place in the mainstream media and in political arguments, this step by Mr. Singh is indeed commendable.

Now coming to the three tweets, first of all Digvijay Singh virtually concedes that tampering of EVMs post manufacturing is not possible, as all the stages – from deployment of EVMs to counting the votes – are supervised by the representatives of political parties. Even the team of engineers that had claimed back in 2009 about the possibility of EVM tampering had conceded that only physical tampering with EVMs could manipulate the results.

This is exactly what Election Commission (EC) had clarified in detail to both Mayawati and Arvind Kejriwal’s parties i.e. how any attempt of hacking, which is possible only through physical tampering, can be spotted by political parties at various stages of the electoral process.

Now that leaves the stage prior to deployment i.e. manufacturing and writing the software code in the chip. Digvijay Singh makes the same point by saying that EVMs can be “pre-tampered” i.e. a malicious software code is written at the time of manufacturing, and he asks EC to have a political representative even at the time of coding the software.

Let’s examine this possibility and whether it is possible.

First of all, as EC had also clarified, the software code in EVMs are not re-programmable. “The software in the ECI-EVM chip is one time programmable (OTP) and burnt into the chip at the time of manufacture. Nothing can be written on the chip after manufacture. Thus, the ECI-EVMs are fundamentally different from the voting machines and processes adopted in various foreign countries.” ECI had said (pdf).

Let’s assume for argument’s sake that this software has a malicious code burnt into the chip at the time of manufacture.

Firstly, an overwhelming proportion of EVMs are being re-used in various elections, as the average life of an EVM is considered to be 15 years. Since they are only one time programmable, every single election in which they were used for the last 10-15 years must be considered “rigged” if the software had a malicious code. Will Digvijay Singh and others like Kejriwal accept it? Further, this also means that Congress wrote that malicious code as Modi government came to power only in 2014.

Secondly, how exactly will this malicious code work? As EC had clarified, randomly selected EVMs are made to go through a mock-poll with 1000 votes in presence of representatives of political parties. If this malicious code has to escape being caught during this mock-poll, it must get activated only after 1000 votes are polled. Now a polling booth on average has less than 1500 voters. For this malicious code to get activated, you must have a voter turnout of more than 70%. How helpful is that really in rigging elections?

But the biggest question is, how will this malicious code know which button (political party) to transfer the votes to? EVMs are sent to different constituencies and polling booths through a randomized process, and this randomization is also done in the presence of representatives of political parties. So a button number 3 could be assigned to Congress in one machine while it could be assigned to BJP elsewhere and BSP somewhere else. This is just too risky for any political party to inject such a code, as it can benefit anyone.

These issues simply mean that EVMs can’t be tampered with at the time of manufacture, while the subsequent stages are supervised by political parties to prevent any physical tampering. So it’s impossible to hack the EVMs.

And we must thank Digvijay Singh for pointing this out.

Congress leaders attack each other over party’s stand against the EVMs

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Congress leaders attack each other over party’s stand against the EVMs

Ever since the Assembly Elections in 5 states concluded, an effort has been made by political parties to blame the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) for their poor performance in the polls.

On 11th March, as the election results were being declared, Mayawati was the first politician who had come out and blamed the EVMs for BJP’s victory. Slowly, other political parties too started raking up the EVM issue and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal took it to the next level after spreading an outright lie about the machines that were equipped with the VVPAT system.

The resultant controversy forced the Election Commission to take stock of the issue and explain in detail why EVMs can’t be hacked.

However, the parties pushing this paranoia and propaganda are not giving up. Congress too is a part of it as it was their leaders, and a section of media, who had created the controversy about EVMs in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh. Not just local leaders, even senior leaders have started pushing this propaganda. Congress even demanded an immediate ban on the EVMs in Rajya Sabha. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad had stated:

EVM should be stopped right now. In the upcoming civic polls of Delhi, assembly polls in Gujarat and other states EVMs should not be used.

Later, the Congress joined a group of 16 opposition parties that petitioned the Election Commission to express no confidence in the EVM and called for ballot papers to be brought back. Ghulam Nabi Azad told the reporters that they had lost confidence in the EVMs after the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand elections. He though didn’t mention anything about the Punjab elections.

This embarrassing stand of the Congress party, which flaunts about introducing computers and technology in India, has prompted Senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily to come out and slam the party.

Moily in his statement backed the EVMs and stated that there was no question of going back to the manual methods (ballot papers). He slammed the party for joining the chorus against the EVMs and called it a defeatist mindset.

Moily also expressed his dismay against the way Congress had come under the influence of regional outfits who were only looking for excuses for their defeats.

He further stated that the EVMs were introduced when he was the union Law Minister and claimed that they had tested the EVMs during that period. He also claimed that many leaders weren’t consulted about the Congress’ decision to petition the EC.

Not just Moily, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit too has indirectly criticized the stand of the Congress. In an interview published on 9th April, Sheila Dikshit was asked about her view about Kejriwal’s allegations against the EVM. She said that EVM tampering was a perception which was created by losers.

She stated that the shift to the EVMs was made because it was a modern system, and that accusing the Election Commission straightaway only because the party had lost was not right.

Joining this league of senior leaders not happy with EVM hacking theory is Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who too trashed such conspiracy theories. “If EVMs were tampered with, Akalis, not me, would be sitting here,” he was reported as saying.

But looks like Congress is in no mood to sound logical. Moily was summoned by the party top brass for his comments, while party spokesperson Manish Tewari attacked Captain with heavy words, accusing him of making a u-turn:


Did Snapchat CEO say he didn’t want to expand to poor countries like India?

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Did Snapchat CEO say he didn’t want to expand to poor countries like India?

People found a reason to be aggravated today after reports started coming out that claimed that Evan Spiegel, the CEO of popular mobile app Snapchat, wasn’t very keen on an expansion to India and Spain as they were poor countries. The said information was tweeted by News18:



Even The Economic Times put out a report titled:

Snapchat CEO says India “too poor” to consider expansion

This soon attracted people’s attention and they started tweeting about it:


So what’s the truth did he really say something like that which might seriously jeopardize the company’s goodwill in this country?

Well maybe but certainly not in a way the reports suggest. As it turns out, the quote didn’t directly come from Spiegel but is part of a lawsuit by an ex-employee Anthony Pampliano, who alleged that Spiegel had said so in a meeting.

The lawsuit claims that in the meeting, Anthony Pampliano, who had joined Snapchat from Facebook, had expressed concerns about the App not taking off overseas. As he was presenting ways to rectify the issue, he was allegedly cut off by Spiegel who stated that the App was for rich people and that he didn’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain. Pampliano lasted at Snapchat only for three weeks.

The lawsuit was filed in January but the contents of the complaint were only released earlier this week. The principle issue of the lawsuit was about Snapchat allegedly misleading investors by exaggerating  its user data and that top executives were completely misinformed about key metrics. The lawsuit was filed just as Snapchat was planning to go for an IPO and concerns were raised that it might dampen the spirits. But that wasn’t the case and the shares were 12 times oversubscribed.

Even though Snapchat has come out to state that it has nothing to hide when it comes to inflated growth metrics, it hasn’t responded to the India comment possibly because there are other more serious allegations which it has to fend off.

Though having said all that nothing justifies misleading headlines which attributed a quote to a person based on pure allegation.

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