Aajtak news footage is making the rounds, purporting to be an open challenge from the Election Commission of India to any political party, showing off how to hack the EVM machines.

@swapnil_6688 claimed in a twitter post that the Election Commission of India has issued an open challenge to all political parties to demonstrate hacking of EVM machines. The user added “Otherwise, out of fear of losing, stop crying in the name of EVM. Do you have the courage? Will you just bark from outside or will you come and bite as well?”. The tweet post was made on April 10, 2024.

ब्रेकिंग न्यूज💥
भारतीय चुनाव आयोग का भारत की सभी राजनीतिक पार्टियों को ओपन चैलेंज का आयोजन किया है EVM मशीनो को हैक करके दिखाए।
नही तो हारने के डर से EVM के नाम से रोना छोड़ दे है क्या हिम्मत। या सिर्फ बाहर से भोंकेंगे या आके काटेंगे भी । pic.twitter.com/9WXqeMcFmm

— SWAPNIL ASMITA ANIL KUDALKAR🇮🇳🚩मोदीजी का परिवार (@swapnil_6688) April 10, 2024

Several other accounts, including @anujPal50037043, @Pankajp58645525, @drseemat made the same claim that an open challenge was thrown up to all the political parties by the Election Commission of India to demonstrate the hacking of EVM machines. The archive can be read from above.

What is the Actual Truth About this Incident? : Fact

The truth is that this is a 2017 old video. It is unrelated to the  upcoming general elections that will take place in 2024. Rajiv Kumar is the current CEC, while former CEC Dr. Nasim Zaidi is visible during this press conference. We visited jagranjosh, which published an article on this on March 14, 2024 with the heading “List of all Chief Election Commissioners and Election Commissioners of India (1950-2024)”. Here, we can see Dr. Nasim Zaidi is the fromer CEC from April 19, 2015 to July 5, 2017, whereas Rajiv Kumar is the current CEC from May 15, 2022 to Feb 18, 2025.The full Press Conference video was uploaded in Youtube on May 20, 2017.

Check out the Youtube Video:

D-Intent’s Fact-Checking Results:

1832
ANALYSIS: Misleading

FACT: A news video of Aajtak is being circulated claiming that the Election Commission of India has issued an open challenge to all political parties to demonstrate the hacking of EVM machines. The fact is that this is an old video from 2017. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/MN1mjeXtsl

— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) April 10, 2024

Intent:

Political influencers are circulating old videos of ECI with misleading claims to set their narrative to influence the upcoming general elections. A news video of Aajtak is being circulated claiming that the Election Commission of India has issued an open challenge to all political parties to demonstrate the hacking of EVM machines. In actuality, this is a 2017 old video. The general elections that will take place in 2024 are unrelated to it. Dr. Nasim Zaidi, the former CEC, is visible at this press conference; Rajiv Kumar is the one in charge right now.

Conclusion:

Claim : The Election Commission of India is allegedly challenging all political parties to show off how to hack EVM machines, according to a news video featuring Aajtak that is making the rounds.

Fact : The fact is that this is an old video from 2017. It has nothing to do with the upcoming general elections in 2024. In this press conference, former CEC Dr Nasim Zaidi can be seen, while the current CEC is Rajiv Kumar.

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