THE USE OF EVMS: SOME DOUBTS AND FEW SUGGESTIONS

The  three-member Election Commission and the technical experts committee of the Election Commission have been interacting with various political parties on  the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

The following are the issues  regarding the reliability of the EVMs. These issues need to be addressed by the Election Commission in order to clear the apprehensions over the EVMs. This is essential as concerns over the efficacy of the EVMs question people’s confidence in the democratic electoral process.  The concerns are as follows:

1. Is there a possibility of incorporating a Trojan horse into the chip?

2. Is there a possibility of manipulation of chips during manufacturing, insertion and transportation stages?

3. Whether it is a fact that there is a lack of EC control on the entire technical process of the EVMs.

4. Whether it is a fact that there is a lack of third party check/inspection/guarantee on the programming of the chips used in the EVMs.

5. What are the reasons for banning the usage of EVMs in some Western countries particularly in Europe? What are the experiences with EVMs in these countries? Are these experiences not pertinent in Indian context? If so, why?

6. Errors have been reported in some machines and the discrepancies in the results. Does these errors raise doubts over authenticity in the functioning of the other EVMs?

7. Can we completely rule-out technically the possibility of tampering with the EVMs to favour a particular political party especially party in power?

8. How does the Election Commission avoid confusion among illiterate voters when simultaneous elections are held for Parliament and Assembly?

Some steps that need to be taken to restore the confidence of the political parties and people on the usage of the EVMs include the following:

1. The entire manufacturing process has to be done under the control of the Election Commission and for this an exclusive technical department needs to be established.

2. Both hardware and software should be in public domain.

3. The chips manufactured by ECIL, BEL should be allowed for yearly random third party inspections either by NIC or IITs.

4. All the machines should be randomly changed from state to state and within the country in every election.

5. A verification tool should be developed and made available to all.

Political parties should behave in a responsible manner. They should avoid unsubstantiated allegations and empty political rhetoric. However, the Election Commission and its technical experts should convincingly answer genuine apprehensions over the use of the EVMs with proper scientific and technical evidence.