After a preliminary investigation, the police found that the accused had access to the same password used by officials while the commission maintained that its database was safe and secure. A 24-year-old man allegedly hacked into the website of the Election Commission of India (ECI) from Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh to create over 10,000 fake voter IDs, according to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report. The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested the accused, Vipul Saini, on Thursday last week from Maccharhedi village in Saharanpur. Such incidents threaten the security of data collected by the Election Commission, which can be used to create fake identities to cast votes and influence elections. Key details about the incident and the accused The police informed PTI that their initial findings revealed that: More than 10,000 fake voter IDs were created in a span of three months. Saini was paid around Rs 100-200 per voter ID. His bank account contained Rs 60 lakh; it was promptly frozen after his arrest. The police are trying to ascertain the source of this money. Vipul Saini logged into the ECI website using the same password as ECI officials as per a Times of India report. Two computers and hard drives were seized from Saini’s home. The accused worked for a man named Armaan Malik from Madhya Pradesh. The authorities have sought the court’s permission to bring Saini to Delhi to interrogate him further. PTI also reported that Saini will be probed for links with…
