Two news reports: 1. 174 EVMs conked out in Kerala 2. EVMs ready for EC scrutiny
Eternal vigilance is the price of a vibrant Republic.
The two news reports should receive immediate attention of EC and appropriate explanations given to the voters of the nation that transparency in election process will NOT be compromised, at any cost.
It is a matter of serious concern and EC should wake up to the reality that the most sacred exercise of adult franchise lacks transparency which is a Constitutional mandate.
German SC held while throwing out EVMs in that nation's elections, that transparency is a constitutional principle, while efficiency is NOT. It should not, therefore, be a surprise that many countries with competence in advanced in technologies DO NOT use EVMs but use only paper ballots for their elections.
India' Supreme Court has also upheld the transparency principle and directed the EC to implement a VVPAT (Voter verifiable Paper Audit Trail).
EC should explain to the voters the checks and balance it has put in place to ensure compliance with the cyberlaw of the land: IT Act 2000.
In simple terms, EC should put in place ALL the controls for monitoring EVMs, comparable to those introduced by RBI for monitoring ATMs under the IT Act 2000.
At the minimum, an external auditing agency should continuously review working of the EVMs and ensure that adequate controls are in place to ensure that no tampering has occured during ALL the stages of operationalising the EVMs. EC should respect the views of eminent computer and IT specialists who have expressed their concerns about the tamperability of a computing system like the EVM.
India was the first democratic nation in the world to introduce a palm-leaf secret balloting system in Uttaramerur, Tamil Nadu during the regime of Parantaka Chola. This fact was mentioned by Tanguturi Prakasam the then CM of Madras Presidency during the Constitutional Assembly debates.
Let EC perform its sacred duty of safeguarding this civilizational heritage while trying to use EVMs for the electoral process.
An international conference held in Chennai in 2010 highlighted the concerns expressed by international IT experts which are summarised in a book which EC should read:
Amazon.in: Buy Electronic Voting Machines: Unconstitutional and Tamperable Book Online at Low Prices in India | Electronic Voting Machines: Unconstitutional and Tamperable Reviews & Ratings by Subramanian Swamy & S. Kalyanaraman (2010)
174 EVMs Conked Out During Polls in the State
According to the consolidate data available with the office of the Chief Electoral Office in Thiruvananthapuram, as many as 174 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) malfunctioned at various polling booths across the state during the polling held for 16th Lok Sabha election on Thursday.
Additional Chief Electoral Officer Sabu Paul Sebastian has said that out of the total 174 EVMs, 126 were found to be malfunctioning during the mock polls held at polling booths on Thursday morning and 48 after the polls started.
He said though there were 21, 424 polling booths across the state, as many as 25,000 EVMs were made available in the state. “Accordingly, the rate of malfunctioning is 0.7 per cent,” he said.
He said the machines used for polling first undergoes First Level Check (FLC) at the strong rooms at least a month before the polling. As many as 10 per cent of the machines are checked by casting 1,000 votes, and for the rest of the EVMs, the manufactures conduct the inspection of all the components of the gadgets to make sure that they do not have any fault during the FLC.
After the randomisation of the EVMs at the Assembly constituency and booth-levels to ensure that no malpractice is conducted on machines during the polls, the next inspection of the machines are conducted on the polling day before the poll begins at the booth. This is done in the presence of the polling agents of each political party.
‘Matter of Concern’
Though the officials at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of the state are playing down the rate of malfunctioning, voters and political parties have expressed serious concerns over the malfunctioning of EVMs and the defects the EVMs showed for the first time in the state during the polls.
Though the consolidated data shows that only 174 EVMs had malfunctioned, ‘Express’ has learnt from the officials at the helm of affairs of elections in the district that as many as 49 Ballot Units (BUs) and 51 Control Units (CUs) had malfunctioned during mock voting and even after the polling began in Thirssur district on Thursday.
Besides that, the officials at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer and political leaders say that the issue of the lights against the symbol of different candidates blinking while the voter cast vote for a single candidate, was something unheard of till Thursday.
Former Revenue Minister K P Rajendran of CPI, who has filed a complaint with the Assistant Returning Officer of Thrissur about such a malfunctioning of the EVM at the 32nd booth of Thrissur Assembly constituency at Poonkkunnam Govt HSS, said it was for the first time he came across such defects. “At times the EVMs may show defects during mock polls, but such defects that create uncertainty over the votes cast by the voters are a matter of concern,” he said.
EVMs ready for EC scrutiny
Apr 17, 2014 |
During phase I, in the Gondia-Bhandara constituency, around 22 machines were found faulty. All the votes that were cast on these machines went to a particular candidate and in this case, it was NCP’s Praful Patel. However, the election commission replaced the machines before the polling date, which was on April 10.
Returning officer Dr Manik Gursal confirmed the checking of EVMs. He said,
“The procedure of checking the EVMs has started in the presence of the assistant returning officer (ARO) and representatives of
the candidates at Ruparel College.”
When asked if is it a precautionary measure taken by the election commission after the Gondia mishap, Dr Gursal said, “We have to take precautions before the actual polling.” He further stated that, “Many a times, the machines lie unused for a long period after the elections. So it may be possible that some faults may occur which are repairable. Each machine will be checked and then sealed in the presence of the above-mentioned members,” he said.
For phase II of the general elections across 19 constituencies in the Marathwada and western Maharashtra region, 44,256 control units and 70,118 ballot units will be required. Phase III will require 36,062 control units and 60,012 ballot units.
The Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and the Electronic Corporation of India (ECI) provide the EVM machines. Technical teams of both the companies will be present at the time of checking, confirmed a senior officer from the state electoral office.