Stop blaming EVMs

Electronic Voting in India

EVMs are dragged into controversy by most of the political parties whenever they lose an election. In the past most of the mainstream political parties like Congress, BJP, AAP, SP, BSP, etc. have raised their concerns over EVMs. Ironically, all of these political parties have won several elections through voting by EVMs. 

Before analysing the safeguards embedded in EVMs, let's know the history of voting and how we adopted electronic voting over ballot paper. 

Election commission of India has been lauded the world over for conducting world's largest electoral exercise in free and fair manner over the years. Previously, voting was being done through ballot paper. But subsequently we moved to electronic voting. 

Why? Because of the following concerns:

1. Scalability: India's voter number was increasing day by day with the increase in population. So it was difficult on EC's part to conduct elections through ballot papers.

2. Cost: The cost of printing, transporting and securing ballot papers was too high. It was estimated that nearly 10,000 tonnes of ballot papers were required during a general election.

3. Booth Capturing: There were several instances in the past where it has been seen that miscreants have captured the ballot paper box and have tried to interfere in the electoral process.

4. Invalid Votes: During voting through ballot papers there were thousands of invalid votes being registered per constituency. In many constituencies, it has been seen that the number of invalid votes exceeding the margin of votes between the winner and the candidate who secured the second position.

5. Speed: Counting of ballots were taking several hours hence delaying the announcement of election results quickly. As humans were being employed for counting of ballots, there ought to be some human error in counting.

EVMs were used for the first time in North Paravur MLA constituency in 1982 in Kerala. EVMs had been used for some polling booths in that constituency. But soon this election was declared null and void by the court on the ground that Representation of People Act, 1951 say for elections through paper ballot. Then the act was amended in the year 1988 which provided for voting electronically.

EC used EVMs in some constituencies till 2004. But after 2004, EVMs have been used in all assembly as well as parliament constituencies through out the country. 

Let's understand the working principle of EVMs now. 

Each EVM consists of two parts i.e. one controlling unit (CU) and one balloting unit (BU). Controlling unit remains in the control of the presiding officer or the polling officer. Balloting unit is placed in the voting compartment and is used by the voters to cast their votes. Balloting unit and Controlling unit is connected through a 5 meter long cable. 

One EVM can register a maximum of 3840 votes. Each balloting unit can contain names of maximum 16 candidates. Four balloting unit can be connected to accommodate 64 candidates. But if the number of candidates exceed 64, voting has to be done through paper ballot.

A voter enters the polling booth first and get his/her finger inked. Then the presiding officer presses the ballot button on the controlling unit which activates the balloting unit. The voter presses the blue button along his/her favourite candidate and casts his/her vote. The EVM will take the vote from one voter for once and it ensures one voter, one vote policy. 

EVMs are designed and manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) under the supervision of Election Commission of India.

Political parties have voiced their concerns over and over again and have accused the EVMs of being tampered or hacked. They cite examples of many developed countries which have banned the use of EVMs in their country. 

But each time such accusations are put, EC issues clarification and firm their stand that EVMs are foolproof in nature. 

Checks and Balances in Indian EVMs: 

1. Software: The software which is used in EVMs is one-time programmable in nature i.e. the software can be inserted during manufacturing only and the software can't be altered thereafter.

2. Stand-alone machines: EVMs are stand-alone machines. They can't be monitored or operated through wireless communications. These are not like computer device which can receive low-frequency waves. 

3. Selection of EVMs: EVMs are sent randomly to constituencies and the candidate lists are put on the balloting unit according to their names alphabetically. The serial numbers assigned to each political party will vary from constituency to constituency. So one cannot predict which EVM will be sent to which constituency and pre-programming can't be done as well.

4. Mock Voting: Before start of the formal voting, each EVMs are checked in present of political parties representatives and a mock voting is done with 1000 votes. If any problem of malfunctioning arises then that EVM is altered with another EVM. 

5. Closure of Voting: When voting ends, the presiding officer presses the "close" button and seals the EVM and sends it to the strong room where it will be kept until the counting day. The number of votes which is polled in that day is shared with political parties representatives. If any mismatch occurs in the counting day with that of polling day then that can be known.

After all those above stated safeguards also, EVMs can be tempered. How? 

1. Manipulation of data chip: The data which have been recorded after the voting can be manipulated and feed with new data. 

2. Connecting a Bluetooth to the Display: A Bluetooth device can be connected to the display which will show the manipulated numbers. 

In the pasts many individuals, tech experts, professors have tried this and have succeeded as well.

There are many more methods in which the EVMs can be tempered but for all these cases, one need physical access of EVMs along with high skilled techies and a lot of time which is nearly impossible provided the security with which EVMs are kept under the eyes of EC. Any manipulation which may be caused to any EVM can be detected easily. Even if one is able to manipulate one EVM by getting physical access it can't alter people's mandate in the whole constituency as thousands of EVMs used for one constituency. 

Countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland have banned the use of EVMs on the ground of lack of transparency and their vulnerability to hacking. 

But Indian EVMs are different. How? 

Indian EVMs are not networked i.e. they can't be controlled remotely unlike other countries' EVMs. Indian EVMs are made up of obsolete technology and one of the best in the world. 

Advantages of EVM over Ballot Paper:

1. Prevention of Booth Capturing: When miscreants tries to enter the booth, the presiding officer can press the "Close" button thereby ensuring fair election. When the close button is pressed, the EVM will stop accepting any votes further. 

2. Save of time and government machinery: EVMs can show results within a minute thereby saving time which gets wasted in ballot paper counting. Many government employees are employed for counting the ballot papers which has been done away with the use of EVMs. 

3. Save of money and trees: Crores of rupees were being spent in the production, printing and transportation of ballot papers. While EVMs can be used again and again and are compact, light weight and easy to carry. Millions of trees have been saved from cutting by avoiding use of ballot papers. 

On the petition of Dr. Subramaniam Swamy, Supreme Court in 2013 asked the EC to use VVPAT. But due to unavailability of enough VVPAT, EC couldn't use VVPAT in 2014 general elections. EC has said that VVPAT will be used in all constituencies in 2019 general elections.

What is VVPAT? 

VVPAT i.e. Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail is a printing machine which will be used along with EVMs. VVPAT will print the candidate's name, serial number and party's symbols after one casts his/her vote on the balloting unit. The voter can see the VVPAT slip for 7 seconds and can verify whether his vote has gone to the same person or not. 

If any doubt arises, the VVPAT slips can be counted and be matched with the figures on the EVMs. 

Initially, there were more glitches being reported with the VVPAT. This is due to the fact that VVPAT is a electro-mechanical device which has moving parts in it. So issues of malfunctioning ought to occur.

There are some concerns also with the current system of voting. Currently, a candidate can know the number of votes he has got from a particular poling booth. In this case anonymity of voters is being compromised partially. If the winning candidate knows which polling booth has voted in favour or against him, he may target the people under those polling booths which have voted against him. 

The solution lies with the use of Totalizers. All EVMs in a constituency can be connected with a Totalizer and that totalizer will show the results by adding votes from individual EVMs. 

Currently, EC matches the results shown on the EVM with the VVPAT slips for one EVM per constituency. But several political parties have demanded that some percentage of the total EVMs used, should be matched with VVPAT slips. 

Obviously EVMs are not totally fullproof. But altering an election result by manipulating thousands of EVMs by dodging several checks and balances is really a day dream. 

EC have thrown challenges to every political party and individual to hack an EVM. But ironically, not a single political party or individual have taken up that challenge. 

Election Commission needs to adopt more and more checks and balances with the passage of time. But asking EC to go back to ballot papers is totally rubbish.

Political parties should stop blaming EVMs and should start questioning their inefficiency in delivering promises for which people reject them.