Parties fail to take EVM hackathon challenge

June 4, 2017

New Delhi, Jun 4: Despite over a dozen political parties questioning the reliability of electronic voting machines, none of them took up the challenge to prove it they can be tampered with.

EVM

The Election Commission had recently thrown open a challenge to all political parties. Though the CPM and the NCP accepted the challenge and appeared for the event held here on Saturday, they opted out of the test. After the event, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told reporters that EVMs used by the poll panel are “non-tamperable”, and with 100% use of paper trail machines in all future elections, the issue of tamperability of the machines “stands closed”.

He also made it clear that there would be no such challenge in future to test the reliability of EVMs. The CPM said they didn't want to participate in the challenge, but wished to understand the EVM process.

The NCP team, for its part, informed they, too, didn't want to participate in any test, but were only interested to participate in an academic exercise, Zaidi said.

The challenge was organised after several major Opposition parties had claimed that the faith of people in the machines had eroded due to charges of tampering.

Representatives from both the parties were offered four machines and four hours to hack into them. The machines were brought from Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh where the recent Assembly elections were held.

Zaidi said the CPM members were given a detailed demonstration by the commission about EVMs and they were “satisfied”.

The NCP team led by Rajya Sabha member Vandana Chavan conveyed that the main reason for their apprehension was over the voting machines used in the municipal polls in Maharashtra, the commission clarified that the EVMs used by the Maharashtra State Election Commission did not belong to the ECI.

However, when the NCP team again met the commission officials and sought time to participate in the challenge or by way of academic exercise by selecting the EVM and then accessing the memory and battery numbers by opening the machines themselves, the commission agreed to that, a statement said.

Earlier, the commission had rejected the AAP and Congress demand to allow them to access motherboard of the voting machines.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru police have arrested a 27-year-old NRI on his return from Saudi Arabia in connection with an Instagram post allegedly containing derogatory and provocative remarks about the Hindu religion, officials said on Monday.

The accused, Abdul Khader Nehad, a resident of Ulaibettu in Mangaluru, was working in Saudi Arabia when the post was uploaded, police said.

A suo motu case was registered at the Bajpe police station on October 11 after an allegedly offensive post circulated from the Instagram account ‘team_sdpi_2025’. Police said the content was flagged for being provocative and derogatory in nature.

During the investigation, technical analysis traced the Instagram post to Nehad, who was residing abroad at the time, a senior police officer said. Based on these findings, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against him.

On December 14, Nehad arrived from Saudi Arabia at Calicut International Airport in Kerala, where he was taken into custody on arrival. Police said further investigation is underway.

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News Network
December 19,2025

Mangaluru: The Mangaluru CEN police have arrested a 23-year-old man for allegedly posting provocative and misleading content on an Instagram page named “mr_a_titude”, targeting the Bajpe police.

Mangaluru Commissioner of Police Sudheer Kumar Reddy C H identified the arrested as Abhishek M, a resident of Katipalla in Mangaluru.

A case has been registered at the Bajpe Police Station under Sections 353(1)(c), 353(2), 56, and 57 read with Section 189 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in connection with the post.

According to police, the accused uploaded a photograph of a hotel on the Instagram page and alleged that accused persons in a murder case under the Bajpe police jurisdiction were being given “royal treatment” by the police, including being served beef meals daily from the hotel.

The post further accused the police of supporting criminals, misusing their authority, and betraying public trust. Police said the content was provocative in nature and aimed at inciting public outrage against the police.

Following the post, a case was registered at the Bajpe police station, and further investigation was transferred to the CEN police station.

Police records indicate that the accused has a criminal history, with multiple cases registered against him, including murder, attempt to murder, assault, and robbery at the Surathkal Police Station, and one case at the Kaup Police Station.

The Commissioner said the accused was traced and arrested using technical evidence.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Udupi, Dec 15: What was meant to be a post-pilgrimage gathering turned tragic in Padukere village of Brahmavar taluk, Udupi district, late Sunday night, when a clash among youths escalated into a fatal assault, leaving one man dead.

The victim has been identified as 30-year-old Santosh Mogaveera, a resident of Padukere.

According to preliminary information, the incident took place during a late-night drinking party involving a group of local youths who had recently returned after completing their pilgrimage to the Sabarimala shrine. An argument reportedly broke out among the group and soon escalated into a violent confrontation.

During the ensuing brawl, Santosh Mogaveera was allegedly assaulted and collapsed at the spot after sustaining serious injuries. He was rushed by local residents to a private hospital in Brahmavar, where doctors declared him dead.

On receiving information, senior police officials, including Brahmavar Circle Inspector Gopikrishna, Kota Police Sub-Inspector Praveen Kumar T, Station ASI Manthesh Jabagoudar, and head constables Pradeep and Ashok, visited the spot and conducted an inspection.

Police have taken four youths into custody in connection with the incident. A case has been registered at the Kota police station, and further investigation is underway to ascertain the exact sequence of events leading to the death.

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