The EC is preparing to lodge an FIR and press criminal charges against Syed Shuja, the US-based “cyber expert” who alleged on Monday that EVMs used in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, which brought the BJP to power, were massively rigged .ET has learnt that the EC started legal consultations within hours of the shocking claims made by Shuja and is likely to invoke Section 505 1(b) of the IPC, besides other possible sections. Section 505 1(b) pertains to statements related to public mischief “with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public”.Initial inquiries by the EC with the Electronic Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) –– the PSU that manufactures EVMs — did not reveal any EVM designer/developer of Syed Shuja’s name. Records of contractual employees engaged by ECIL are being perused, sources said.In a statement the EC said while it was “wary of becoming a party to this motivated slugfest”, the commission firmly stands by the “foolproof nature of the EVMs deployed in elections in India”. The EC has said that EVMs are manufactured by Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and ECIL under “strict supervisory and security conditions” and there are rigorous standard operating procedures at all stages under the supervision of a technical expert committee.Shuja claimed “the EVMs were hacked by the BJP during the 2014 elections using modulators which transmit military-grade frequency”. He also claimed that the then CEC VS Sampath was aware of large-scale rigging which was done by installing modulators and antennas in EVMs used for polls. When contacted by ET, VS Sampath refuted the claims.“There was no such claim made at any point by anyone to us about being able to hack EVMs. ECIL and BEL work together and there was no such issue brought to us ever,” he told ET.Rajat Moona, a member of the EC’s technical panel since 2010, termed the allegations “absurd”. “These claims are completely absurd. The EVM cannot communicate wirelessly or through wires with any other machine. There is no possibility of so many machines fitted with a specialised device passing muster through the several rounds of testing conducted with every single machine. I have been in the TEC since 2010 and also cannot recall any EVM developer of this name at ECIL,” Moona told ET.