India is home to the world’s largest population with 97 crore registered electors. Every five years, elections are conducted under the superintendence of the election commission of India (ECI) vide article 324 of the Indian constitution. Like every thing else, elections have witnessed the march of technology, moving from the paper ballot system to electronic voting machines (EVMs) to Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail system (VVPATs). In this post, we shall see why the lections under ECI is a fool proof system and how EVM-VVPAT cannot be tampered with.
A Brief History
EVMs were used in the general elections for the first time in 1982 in Kerala. It was struck down by the Supreme Court (SC) in the absence of any legislative provisions for its use. Subsequently, the Representation of People Act (RoPA) 1951 was amended to allow for its use. At present, EVMs are manufactured by Bharath Electronic Limited (Under Ministry of Defence) and Electronic Corporation of India Limited (under department of atomic energy). After the judiciary, in Subramanian Swamy v. Election Commission of India, recognizing the right to ensure votes as ‘cast’, the VVPAT was introduced in a phased manner. This was done by amending the conduct of elections rules, 1961. Subsequently, the SC, vide N. Chandrababu Naidu and others v. Union of India and another, also recognized the principle of transparency in elections, deciding that 5 randomly selected VVPAT in every constituency be audited. The number 5 has been so selected keeping in mind the manpower and time available for the ECI to conduct the entire process.
Why EVMs cannot be rigged at manufacturing phase
The EVM setup is designed as standalone non-networked unconnectable device. It is loaded with a microcontroller chip that is key hashed and burnt into a one-time programmable device memory. Every key press is dynamically coded, recorded with time stamp in real-time making it impossible to know the flow of information in the circuit. Additionally, the device has Unauthorized Access Detection Mechanism (UADM), meaning if an unauthorized access is noted, the device is permanently disabled. Note that at this stage, the EVMs do not know when and which keys are used to vote for a particular candidate or party.
Checks and balances for EVMs in the voting phase
Ten to fifteen days before polling, the EVMs are loaded with the candidate’s name and symbol in the presence of the expert engineers from the manufacturing plant, agents of candidates and political parties and under the overall supervision of the electoral body. The machines are then sealed with a color-coded paper, noting the serial number, date and time and other details of the EVM unit.
Two hours before actual polling, each EVM-VVPAT is checked by polling 50 votes and VVPAT audit is conducted along with it and then sealed again. After this process, the actual polling is conducted by the polling officials in the presence of the representatives of the political parties. The EVMs are then sealed after which the polling officials record the votes polled, votes denied and the total number of electors assigned to the machine and votes polled in each machine (Form 17 A to C).
EVMs through post-poll phase
On the counting day, the RESULT button is clicked so that how many clicks attributable to each BUTTON is displayed and then they are tallied against the list of candidates. A tally of the votes registered and details supplied in Form 17 A to C is also conducted along with a VVPAT audit of atleast 5 machines in each constituency or parliamentary segment. It is to be noted that more than 4 crore VVPAT audits have been performed and only A SINGLE discrepancy has been recorded. This error was the result of the polling officials forgetting to delete the mock poll data before the actual voting began and donot pose any significant issue with EVMs integrity and authority in conducting the world’s largest democratic electoral exercise. Justice Dipankar Mishra, in Association of Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India, notes that in a very rare and almost impossible event that a particular EVM is tampered with, one is not left without any remedy. An election petition can be filed by an elector of that constituency under 80C of the RoPA 1951 within 45 days for which all election related documents, including EVM-VVPAT slips and CCTV footages are stored.
Conclusion
A thorough vetting of the electoral process is done in all stages to ensure free, fair and transparent elections. India, being one of the first few countries to recognize the principle of universal adult franchise, transformed the electoral landscape by recognizing the right to vote as a constitutional right under article 326. In doing so, it not only expanded the electorate from the colonial 10% to post-colonial 100%, but also made it a ‘right’ and not merely a ‘gift’ as given by the British. Through that lens, the indelible ink, EVMs and VVPATs are fool proof utilities to ensure a fair playing field to all political parties as witnessed by the increasing trend of voter turn out in most elections.
