New Delhi: A day after a self-proclaimed cyber expert alleged that the BJP had won the last general election by hacking into Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the ruling party on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Congress and said the grand old party has already started looking for an excuse for its impending loss in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
An Indian cyber expert, seeking political asylum in the US, claimed that the 2014 general election was "rigged" through EVMs, which, he said, can be hacked.
Addressing a press conference in London via Skype, the man, identified as Syed Suja, said he fled India in 2014 because he felt threatened in the country after the killing of some of his team members.
The BJP dubbed allegations of rigging in the 2014 polls a "Congress-sponsored conspiracy" designed to "defame" Indian democracy and its Election Commission.
Dismissing the allegations of EVM tampering, the EC said that the EVMs used by it are manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) under "very strict" supervisory and security conditions.
Leading the attack from the BJP was Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who told reporters that the Indian Journalists' Association, which had organised the London conference, is headed by Ashis Ray who, he claimed, is a "committed Congressman".
Prasad alleged that the Ray contributes to National Herald, a Congress mouthpiece, "campaigns" for the Congress on social media and has often attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Prasad further claimed that Ray also organised Gandhi's public event in London.
There has been no reaction from Ray to the BJP's comments so far.
Training his guns on the Congress, Prasad questioned the presence of its leader Kapil Sibal at the event.
"What was Sibal doing there? In what capacity was he present? My charge is that he was there to monitor the event for the Congress. It was a Congress-sponsored conspiracy designed to defame Indian democracy and its Election Commission," Prasad said.
The BJP leader dismissed Sibal's claim that he was present in his personal capacity, saying he was intelligent enough to know implications of his being there. Prasad claimed that Sibal was there by deliberate design.
Ridiculing the London event as a circus and political stunt, the BJP leader said he had never heard of Syed Shuja, who claimed to be a cyber expert and made the outlandish and explosive allegations at the press conference.
The Union minister said the EVMs have been in use since 1996 and non-BJP parties have won so many elections since then.
"When the BJP wins, then the EVMs become suspect. What kind of logic is this," he asked, adding that there cannot be a more "shameful" argument which is designed to compromise Indian electoral process.
No political party or expert had taken up the open challenge thrown by the EC in 2017 for hacking the EVMs, he said.
The Supreme Court had also dismissed in November last a petition seeking re-introduction of ballot papers in elections.
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