The Election Commission today specified that the EVM Challenge would be conducted within the framework of the existing administrative safeguards which are strictly followed in the field while Electronic Voting Machines are deployed.<br/><br/>Replying to the letters written by the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party to the EVM challenge, the Commission said, its EVMs are not accessible to any unauthorized person at any stage, and therefore the question of access to its components such as the motherboard for tampering the EVM machines does not arise.<br/><br/>It said, a visual inspection of the Ballot Unit (BU) and Control Unit (CU) is allowed even during the First Level Checking, after which the machines are sealed and safely secured in the strong-rooms with round-the-clock security. <br/><br/>The poll panel said, its EVM Challenge provides extensive opportunity to a challenger to handle the EVMs and press as many buttons in CU and BU in any number of combinations and use Bluetooth or wireless to attempt to tamper the machines.<br/><br/>Regarding doubts raised in Bhind, Dholpur and certain assemblies of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the Commission pointed out that all the incidents were found factually incorrect, misleading and devoid of any truth.<br/><br/>The Commission said, its announcement about hundred per cent coverage of Voter Varifiable Paper Audit Trail, VVPAT, in all future elections and proposed modification in VVPAT recount rules will conclusively put to rest all the doubts about the integrity of the Electronic Voting Machines.<br/><br/>Responding to Aam Admi Party's objections, the poll body said it has never promised a 'no-holds barred Hackathon' so its attribution to the Commission is wrong. It also said, it does not believe that an open Hackathon is necessary for safeguarding the election process in the country.<br/><br/>On AAP's insistence to permit change of mother board, the Commission reiterated its previous stand that a non-ECI EVM or an EVM with a different 'internal circuit' is simply a different machine and can never be guaranteed by ECI to give correct results.