Ballot paper should be used during 2019 elections: Digvijaya Singh

New Delhi: On a day the Election Commission offered a challenge to political parties to hack EVMs, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday said the machines can be "hacked" and stressed that 2019 general elections should be fought with ballot papers.

"I have always been opposed to EVM machines. If the accounts of the Reserve Bank of Bangladesh and the Reserve Bank of Russia can been hacked, then even EVM machines can be hacked," he said during an interactive session with party workers.

He also said that a lot of study has been done on this by the party as how can the EVM machines be hacked.

"Both the chip and software in the machines can be tampered with. I don't understand why the Election Commission is so inspired by the EVM machines.

"No developed country in the world is using the EVM machine," Singh added.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Digvijaya Singh said that Modi, during his visit to New York, had breakfast with the CEOs of both the companies which develop software and the chips for the EVM machines.

"I don't trust the EVM machines. We will keep fighting against it. Ballot paper should be used again during the 2019 elections," he said.

The Election Commission on Saturday offered its EVMs for political parties to hack them, if possible, under a "Framework of Challenge" from June 3 but insisted that the machines cannot be tampered with in its custody.

- IANS