EVMs – favourite punching bag

Whenever political parties lose elections, especially over which they expected to win, the blame goes to the Electronic Voting Machines. In the recently concluded After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in three Hindi heartland states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – several opposition leaders raised questions over electronic voting machines. As the BJP emerged victorious in three Hindi heartland states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – in the recent round of Assembly polls, several opposition leaders raised questions over electronic voting machines, even as some said they had faith in the EVMs. The suspicion against EVMs is based on three assumptions, each of which makes sense. According to a report in a media, that first is a distrust of the machine. There is speculation that like any electronic gadget can be programmed and manipulated, so also the EVMs. Indeed the debate should not be allowed to fester since the onus is clearly on the Election Commission of India(ECI). For whatever reasons, the ECI has not quite been forthcoming in fostering trust, responding to legitimate queries, and taking on board valid suggestions on this issue. It has long maintained that the EVMs are “stand-alone” machines that cannot be connected, directly or remotely, to any external device. This is simply not true any more after the introduction of VVPATs and the symbol loading during the election process. A Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail or VVPAT machine is used during the polling process to confirm that the vote cast by any voter goes to the correct candidate/symbol.It is an independent system attached with an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) that allows the voters to verify that their votes are cast as intended. In 2013, the Supreme Court had directed the poll agency to introduce VVPAT in the 2014 General Elections to improve voter confidence. However, it was used in some phases and not for the entire election. It was also shown that this one technical change renders most of the earlier precautions and safety protocols useless. The ECI – or the Supreme Court – must come up with additional procedures to maintain public trust.In the recently concluded assembly election, the Congress which lost Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and could not wrest Madhya Pradesh from the BJP, refuses to accept that it alone was responsible for the losses. However, in order to question the verdict in three states, the Congress pointed out that there was a mismatch between postal ballots and EVM vote count. Odd, but not unprecedented. There is something strange about the decline in the vote share for smaller parties and independents and almost identical increase in the BJP’s vote share. Strange, but not impossible. At the end of the day, after the results in MP, the EVM sceptics are more strident in their conspiracy theories while EVM believers are surer than before that it is the losers’ rant. Elections should not only be fair but also appear to be fair. The incessant and disorderly public debates, suspicion, and court cases around EVMs and VVPATs are certainly not good for democracy. Most recently, allegations of malpractice were raised ahead of the counting of votes in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, when a video emerged of officials sorting ballot papers from the strongroom in Balaghat. The Election Commission of India (ECI) should endeavour to put all doubts to rest. To engender complete public trust, elections need to be demonstrably and publicly verifiable.