Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls scheduled for April-May this year, a US-based cyber expert has claimed that electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being compromised and that those used in the 2014 general elections were rigged, news channels reported.

Syed Shuja, a US-based cyber expert, has claimed that he worked with the Electronic Corporation of India and was part of the team which designed EVMs being used by the Election Commission.

Levelling serious allegations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led government at the Centre, Shuja addressed a press conference in London via video conferencing and demonstrated hacking of the EVM. Although he appeared on screen via Skype, his face was masked.

The cyber expert also claimed that late minister Gopinath Munde, who died in June 2014, was allegedly murdered because he was about to expose his own government over the hackings.

The expert has also said he was approached by over 10 political parties over EVM hacking, including the Congress and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

He added that not just BJP, the SP, BSP, AAP and Congress too were involved in incidents of EVM rigging.

Shuja said some of his team members were killed and he was also allegedly attacked but survived.

He said he met a prominent Indian journalist and told him the whole story about the EVM rigging.

The Election Commission and political parties were invited to be at press meet but only Congress leader Kapil Sibal attended the event, he added.

Soon after Shuja’s press meet in London, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the opposition will take up with the Election Commission the claims made by the US-based cyber expert that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be hacked.

“Our great democracy must be protected. Every vote of yours is precious. All Oppn parties discussed the #EVM issue after the #UnitedIndiaAtBrigade rally. We are working closely together and decided on Jan 19 itself to consistently take up the matter with EC. Yes, every vote counts,” she tweeted.

(With inputs from PTI)