How far will the outcome of the 2014-Lok Sabha Election in Manipur be reliable?

( Part-2)

7. The EVM has no means for the voter to verify that his/her votes have been tallied properly.

8. The EVM has no means outside of the memories of the voting machines themselves to audit or recount the votes.

9. Susceptibility to fraud: Although some may believe that tampering with an electronic voting machine is extremely hard to do, computer scientists have tampered with machines to prove that it is quite easily done. If people have access to the machines, and know how to work them, they can take the memory card out of the machine, which stores the votes, and in place they put their own memory card with a virus that can tamper with the votes

10. Government ties of manufacturers: The Government at the time of election may hire any manufacturer or company for manufacturing EVMs according to the needs of the political party in power An EVM can be tampered during manufacturing stage, that too during the manufacturing of the Chip. After tampering the EVM, its difficult to detect it by a third party. When the tampering happens at the manufacturing stage of chip, even those who are assembling the EVMs will not be aware of and cannot detect tampering .

11. Malicious software programming: Any computer software is basically generated from software programming and coding. And all these soft wares could be tampered with by a computer programmer who knows the source code. Testing electronic voting systems for security problems, especially if they were intentionally introduced and concealed, is basically impossible. If malicious coding is inserted by programmers into commercial software that are triggered by obscure combinations of commands and keystrokes via the computer keyboard, then election results can change completely.

12. Physical security of machines:

13. Secure storage of cast votes: The votes that are cast using the electronic voting machines, are stored in a safe storage or space in the computer machine memory. The time gap between election and the counting of votes is a risk to possible hacking and manipulation . The chance of tampering increases as the time gap increases.

Allegations of hacking EVM in last elections.

When the Indian National Congress surpassed all projections to win 262 seats in 2009, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President of the Janata Party (24-8-2010) , alleged that the Leader of Indian National Congress Mrs. Sonia Gandhi reportedly hired hackers to hack into election results of the electronic voting machines, which resulted in landslide victory of the Indian National Congress in the national elections in 2009. (Electronic Voting Machine: Excellent tool of manipulation- by News Desk, December 17, 2011-http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1993/electronic-voting-machine-excellent-tool)

In the last State Assembly election in 2012 in Manipur , in spite of huge anti-congress wave, the Congress Party has won 42 seats . All the 11 opposition parties suspected that the EVM machine might have been manipulated to fix election results in favour of Congress party. A PIL case is still pending in this connection at he Supreme Court of India .

Supreme Court’s instructions to Election Commission of India (ECI)

On 25 July 2011, responding to a PIL (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 312 of 2011), Supreme Court of India asked ECI to consider request to modify EVMs and respond within 3 months. The petitioner suggested that the EVMs should be modified to give a paper slip printed with the symbol of the party in whose favour the voter cast his ballot.

Delhi High Court Ruling

On 17 January 2012, Delhi High Court in its ruling on Dr. Subramanian Swamy`s Writ Petition (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 11879 of 2009) challenging the use of EVMs in the present form said that EVMs are not “tamper-proof” and ordered the Election Commission to add a paper trail as an extra security measure against electoral fraud. On 19 January 2012, the Election Commission ordered Electronics Corporation of India Limited and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to make EVMs that will generate a “paper trail” of the vote cast. Election officials pledged to upgrade 600,000 old EVMs to comply with the new guidelines and procure new ones, and voters can now file complaints if there are still problems with the devices.

Order of the Election Commission of India

On 19 January 2012, the Election Commission ordered Electronics Corporation of India Limited and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to make EVMs that will generate a “paper trail” of the vote cast. BEL CMD Anil Kumar said: “The new EVMs` paper trail should make the poll process safer and tamper-proof. EC has given us its requirement for EVMs and work is on to incorporate new features.

Supreme Court Directives

On 8 October, 2013, a bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi of the Supreme Court , in its order said the Vote Verifier Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system with EVMs would ensure “free and fair” polls and help in “sorting out disputes”. The court had also directed the Centre to provide financial assistance for the system. The VVPAT system records each vote cast on paper. Once a voter presses a button on the EVM, a light glows. A printer with a drop box next to the ballot unit flashes the serial number, name of the candidate and the party symbol to confirm the voter`s choice. A paper slip then gets deposited in the drop box after the voter confirms his/her choice. The system doesn`t allow voters to get the slip as proof of their vote due to “security reasons”. However, candidates can apply for counting of the slips.

Directives of the Union Law Ministry

The Union Law Ministry, which has amended the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to allow use of electronic voting machines fitted with the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system, has introduced a new section to enable the voter to challenge VVPAT operation in case of doubt. The new rule 49MA reads: Where a printer is used, if an elector after having recorded his/her vote alleges that the paper slip generated by the printer has shown the name or symbol of a candidate other than the one he/she voted for, the Presiding Officer shall obtain a written declaration from the elector on the veracity of the allegation, after warning him/her of the consequence of making a false statement.

The Presiding Officer will then permit the elector to record a test vote in the voting machine in his presence and in the presence of the candidates/polling agents. If the voter’s allegation is true, the Presiding Officer would immediately report to the Returning Officer and stop further recording of votes in the defective machine. As per another section 56D introduced in the rule, a candidate/election agent can request the Returning Officer to count the printed paper slips in the drop box of the printer (VVPAT) in any polling station. However, such counting will be allowed only with the permission of the Election Commission.

What is VVPAT system,

In VVPAT system, when a voter presses button for the candidate of his choice in the Electronic Voting Machine(EVM), a paper ballot containing the serial number, name of the candidate and poll symbol will be printed and the voter can verify it.

A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify that their votes were cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results.

People’s mistrust in paperless EVM : There is so much mistrust in the society and among intelligentsia about EVMs.

Is it a gross mistake of the Chief Electoral Officer to use paperless EVM in Manipur ?

From the above mentioned facts , it is clear that the Union Law Ministry, Government of India, the Hon’ble Supreme Court have ordered the Election Commission of India to use EVM with paper trail (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system) in the 2014 Lok Sabaha election. The Election Commission of India has also ordered Electronics Corporation of India Limited and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to make EVMs that will generate a “paper trail” of the vote cast. Considering these facts, I think, this is a gross mistake of the Chief Electoral Officer to use paperless EVM in Manipur in the 2014 Lok Sabha election . Or is he pressurized by the High Command to stick to paperless EVM for winning the election. Any thing may be possible in Manipur.

Under such circumstances , I as a citizen of India am deeply disappointed to see the paperless EVMs being used in the 2014 Lok Sabha election on 9th and 17th April, 2014 .

In this connection , may I request the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Manipur and the Chief Electoral Officer, Manipur to clarify the following points to the people of Manipur through all media to save democracy in Manipur. The clarification may be done in greater public interest before counting of votes .

1. Are the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Manipur and the Chief Electoral Officer , Manipur aware that the paperless EVM can be easily hackled or manipulated at the time of manufacturing , before election or after election in favour of a particular candidate?

2. If so, why are the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Manipur and the Chief Electoral Officer , Manipur using paperless EVM in the 2014 Lok Sabha Election ?

3. How do we know that the paperless EVMs used in the 2014 Lok Sabha Election have not been hackled or manipulated during manufacturing stage and /or before election and/or after election ? What is the proof ?

4. Since the chance of tampering EVM increases as the time gap between election and counting increases, how do we know that the paperless EVMs we have used will not be manipulated during the storage time ( 9th April to 16 May, 2014 and 17th April to 16 May, 2014).

5. Why do the Chief Electoral officer, Manipur failed to use the EVM with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system in the 2014 Lok Sabha election ? Shortage of fund should not be an excuse because the Indian National Congress use Rs. 500 crores for advertisment of Rahul Gandhi’s candidature.

6. How far and on what ground will the people of Manipur believe in the outcome of Lok Sabha election -2014. Please clarify to the people with valid reasons .

7. By using the paperless EVM, is the Chief Electoral Officer, Manipur deliberately helping the Indian National Cogress to win the Lok Sabha election -2014.

8. If the the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Manipur and the Chief Electoral Officer , Manipur can not clarify with valid reasons, why not the Election Commission of India declare the Lok Sabha Election -2014 of Manipur as countermanded and hold another fresh election using Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) EVM.
Concluded