Jaitley terms claims of EVM hacking a big lie, attack Congress

New Delhi, Jan 21 (IANS) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday rejected claims of EVM hacking in 2014 Lok Sabha polls at a press conference in London by a self-proclaimed cyber expert as "absolutely rubbish" and a "big lie" and attacked the Congress for demanding a probe into the issue.

In a series of tweets Jaitley, who is in the US, said Congress should not feel that people are so gullible that they will swallow any garbage.

"After Rafale, the non-existent loan waiver to 15 industrialists - the next big lie - EVM (electronic voting machine) hacking.

"Was the Election Commission & millions of staffers involved in manufacturing, programming of EVMs & conduct of elections during the UPA Government in collusion with the BJP - absolutely rubbish.

"Does the Congress feel that the people are so gullible that they will swallow any garbage? Insanity in the Congress party is increasingly becoming contagious," he said.

The Congress on Monday said Election Commission should probe claims by a US-based self-claimed cyber expert Syed Shuja that the 2014 Lok Sabha elections were "rigged" and said the probe panel should go for 50 per cent check of polling through VVPATs.

Shuja had also claimed that BJP leader Gopinath Munde was "killed" as he knew about the "hacking."

He also claimed "if his people had not intercepted the BJP's attempts to hack the transmissions during this year's assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, they would have won those states as well."