India has just completed a marathon election which was
run over a period of three weeks. This election 2004 attracted global
attention for two reasons.
One was the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in all
polling booths making this the largest electronic election ever conducted in
the world. Many international observers have hailed the Indian EVM system and
it is a matter of pride for our country to be in the fore front of electronic
elections in the entire world.
The second was the series of opinion polls and exit polls
which were conducted during the run up to the elections and during the
elections which made this as a multiple election with results being announced
again and again, stock markets reacting to the poll results and media making a
huge killing.
There were lots of objections to the announcement of the
results of the opinion and exit polls and the debate on their relevance and
fairness will continue.
After the current elections wind up in the next week, it
would be time for the Election Commission of India (ECI) to start looking
ahead at future elections and make improvements to the current system so that
the voter in India would feel confident that the elections were free and fair.
It was strange that despite the use of EVMs, the election
process had to be conducted over a long period of 3 weeks because the ECI had
to provide for adequate security and additional days for repolling. Had there
been a one day election through out India, the controversy over the exit polls
would have not been there at all.
The future direction of improvement in the system should
therefore be in managing the risks associated with the polling so that the
problems of "Bogus Voting" and "Booth Capturing" are brought under control.
While the physical security measures cannot be completely
eliminated, there should be an exploration of the ways and means of improving
the voting system so that "Bogus Voting" and "Booth Capturing" becomes
ineffective. This should make security less critical for holding the free and
fair elections.
It is in this context that I urge the ECI to consider the
following changes.
1. Voter's List on the Web:
One of the major short comings in this election was the
problem of "Missing Names" in the voter's list. ECI should admit that the
fairness of the polls is severely discounted when the electoral rolls are
unreliable. It was funny that many celebrities who were known through out the
country (Example: Dr Rajkumar in Bangalore) could not exercise their franchise
because their names were missing in the voter's list. This makes a mockery of
the "Identification" process.
ECI should be concerned that even those with the Voter's ID
card which was issued several years back could not vote because their
names were not in the list. There is no excuse for such a situation.
These
Voter's ID cards were issued after a huge expenditure and a database of these
card holders should be already available with the ECI. Somebody should be
accountable for the situation where the Voter's ID card exercise having turned
a total waste of public money.
It was wrong for the ECI to have just been satisfied with a
public notice making the voter himself responsible for his name being in the
list. This may be acceptable for the new voters and not those who have voted
in the earlier elections or holding the Voter's ID. It was therefore a
dereliction of duty on the part of ECI that the names of genuine voters were
missing in the final lsit.
What is annoying is that the solution was fairly simple and
efforts were missing on the part of the ECI to implement suitable measures in
ensuring that the names of all valid voters were available in the final list.
If ECI had placed the voter's list on the web and made it
searchable, then the voter's could have not only verified their inclusion but
also notified the ECI of any changes in address etc. Each political party
could have scrutinized the lists and brought to the notice of the ECI the
presence of "Bogus Voters" in the list.
An opportunity to check "Bogus Voting" and to ensure "Right
to Vote by a Genuine Voter" by placing the voter's list on the web
(With adequate security to prevent manipulation on the web) was not made use
of by the ECI. This was a failure of the E-Governance Managers in the
Government of India and the ECI.
Before the next election, ECI must correct this lacuna and
ensure that the Voter's list is permanently made available on the web.
Some may argue that there are 60 crore voters in India and it is difficult to
place their names (in respective languages and English) on the web. I do not
however consider this impossible and request the ECI to immediately
place the current voter's list on the web and start accepting requests for
additions and deletions.
We can also make select Cyber Cafes take the responsibility
for assisting voters to verify the list and submit suitable requests for
amendments. The enumerators can take up only these corrections through
physical verifications.
The GOI has been thinking of spending crores of rupees on
the creation of Citizen ID card and this wasteful project should be kept on
hold until the ECI shows inclination to put the current voter's list on the
web.
2. Verifiable Voting System
The second important change that is required in the system
is to upgrade the existing EVMs for creating a system which can prevent "Booth
Capturing". We must remember that "Booth Capturing" by "Guns" can be prevented
by increasing the Police force and perhaps spreading the elections thin over a
longer period. But "Rigging" of votes through manipulation of the EVMs at the
booth or at the Counting time and thereby altering the actual votes polled
cannot be easily prevented unless we improve the EVMs themselves.
An entrepreneur in Chennai
has come up with a prototype of a new generation EVM which has the following
features.
1. The voter would be able to check for himself through a
confidential code whether the vote cast by him for a particular candidate has
in fact been accounted for the same candidate at the post results stage. (This
would be optional and entirely left to the voter himself to either use or
discard). This
is a new system of "Verified Voting" which is different from the systems
presently being discussed in USA where "Verified Voting" is being equated to
the printing out of a ballot confirmation in physical form.
2. There would be a voting trail recorded on a printer in
some coded form so that in case of necessity, this physical record can be
taken out and used for establishing the genuineness of the vote cast.
3. There would be provisions for recording the electronic
ballot in a manner approved by ITA-2000 so that a voter can approach a court
with valid evidence if his vote has been rigged.
The above two suggestions if implemented will ensure that
a) Voter List is Accurate. All genuine voters find their
names in the list and bogus names are eliminated by the public pointing out
the mistakes.
b) Voter can satisfy himself that his vote has not been
tampered with.
c) Judiciary can use acceptable evidence to cancel any
vote if a proper complaint is made.
As a result of the above the problems of "Bogus Voting" and
"Vote Rigging" can both be reduced to a substantial extent.
There is no doubt that these E-Governance measures are only
tools of better management of elections and there is still a need for
the public to be
1) Vigilant enough to check if their names are available in
the list and no bogus name appears in the list at their address
2) Verify at the post result stage that his/her vote is
correctly accounted for.
3) Complain to the right authority if the vote is rigged.
These are issues of voter education and can be handled.
I suggest that the ECI starts thinking of the modifications
required for the forthcoming elections immediately after the completion of the
current election so that the new system can be introduced in phases during the
assembly elections that will come up in the next two or three years.
Naavi
May 10, 2004
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