It is reported that a PIL has been filed in the Supreme
Court against the EVM system used in the Elections 2004. A note from the
person who has filed the PIL along with some of the news paper reports is
reproduced below for information.
While Naavi.org appreciates the concern shown in the
complaint for a free and fair election which the undersigned also holds dear,
it is necessary to point out that such a discussion should have been taken
before the election process was started and not when the election is partially
over.
Naavi agrees that there is a technical possibility for the
EVM s to be rigged, but it is possible only with the connivance of the
EC officials. If such connivance is possible, they can happen even more easily
in the manual voting system. Hence this cannot be a case for reverting to the
manual voting system.
Naavi however has been working on an improved system of
EVMs which effectively address all the concerns raised by Mr Sainath and his
suggestions have been incorporated in a "Patent Pending" Electronic Voting
Device proposed by one of the entrepreneurs in Chennai. This device includes
not only a "Paper Trail" of voting as is being demanded in US, but also has
incorporated a unique "Cyber Law Compliancy Feature" which ensures that any
attempted manipulation of the device is recorded in such a manner that it is
available for judicial review on a later date.
I urge the Election Commission to take a look at this
device after the completion of the current election so that by the time next
general elections are held for state assemblies, some of these equipments can
be tested. The entrepreneur would be ready to discuss the details of his
patent pending device with BEL so that the system can be developed by them.
In the meantime, it is necessary for us to trust the
officials in charge of the elections and let the current election process
continue undisturbed. Any action at this time based on probabilities and
surmises would be creating more harm than good to the public faith in the
Indian Election System.
Hence I suggest that the PIL should be modified to seek a
direction that EC should take up a proper review exercise of its system
through an appropriate body of experts soon after the completion of the
current election process and not for cancelling the election.
Naavi
April 29, 2004
Following are some Press Reports about EVMs picked up
form an e-mail list
Rashtriya Sahara, Page 7, New Delhi, 21 April. (Translated from Hindi)
The Election Commission
has received
complaints from several states with regard to
Electronic Voting
Machines. Voters are saying that the machine
registered their votes
for incorrect candidates.
Complaints with regard to EVMs have been received
from Gujarat and
Andhra Pradesh.
Congress party has sought repetition
of voting at
several places. In Ahmadabad several voters have
complained that due
to problem in the EVMs their votes could not be
registered for the
party of their choice,
Mr. Babubhai Desai, from Wajad area of Ahmadabad,
says that because
of problems in the EVM he could not vote for his
intended candidate.
He said that when he pressed the button for the
candidate of his
choice, there was neither any sound nor any light
turned on. He
said, "I thought that I did not know how to operate
the machine. I
put my finger on another button. Suddenly a light
came on and I
realized that my vote has been cast in favor of a
candidate who I did
not intend to vote for." Desai belongs to Garadia
caste.
From Andhra Pradesh also complaints have been
received against EVM.
Opposition Congress party says that they have
received complaints
that when people pressed a button to vote for the
Congress party, the
button for the TDP party got activated and the vote
went in favor of
the TDP candidate.
Opposition leaders are alleging
that TDP has
colluded with the (election) officials and tampered
with the machines.
(Congress) party has accused TDP of tampering with
the machines. It
is worth noting that in Potaraam village of Warangal
on accusation
lodged by Congress workers voting was stopped for a
little while.
Complaints of the Congress workers was that the EVM
machine had been
rigged.
From Mahaboob Naganr and Medak districts of
Andhra Pradesh
also similar complaints had been received.
Hindustan Times, New Delhi, April 22, 2004, page-19
EVM problems
The first phase of the LS polls was marred by
complaints from Gujarat
and Andhra Pradesh that EVMs registered votes for
the wrong parties.
The Congress has asked for a re-poll in certain
constituencies. EC
officials in Andhra said there was absolutely no
room for tampering.
However, they said they were looking into the
complaints.
One Mr Sainath Choudhary who has filed the PIL states as
follows:
The above complaints about EVMs vindicate my
apprehension that EVMs
are likely to be tampered.
From the description of
the complaints, it
seems that the miscreants have used method(s) of
tampering simpler
than what I had envisioned. I had suspected
tampering with the
software that controls the machines. However, the
miscreants seem to
have tampered with the wiring in the poll unit.
1. In the case where pressing button for a
particular candidate was
doing anything, apparently the connections to the
button of said
candidate had been snapped off.
2. In the case when pressing button for intended
candidate was
lighting up somebody else's light, apparently the
line from the
intended candidate was connected to the candidate
favored by the
miscreant.
3. It seems to me that the above two types of miscreants were
rather foolish. They could have easily arranged such that correct light lit up
but the vote added to the tally of the one favored by the miscreant.
In case of tampering either of the methods indicated above,
perhaps the presiding officer was in cahoots with the miscreants. Before the
actual polling begins in the morning, the Presiding Officer (PO) is supposed to
do a mock-poll in the presence of poll agents present at the booth. He is then
supposed to zero all of the votes and seal the control-unit with the help of a
paper strip signed by the poll agents present. It seems that the PO either
avoided mock-poll all together, or, he knew which buttons to avoid checking
during the mock polling.
It may be worth noting that none of the above
mentioned tampering
would have been possible if the serializing of the
candidates had
been done by lottery draws by each of the POs in
their respective
polling booths. Else they could have been serialized
by a random draw
at a central location, just an hour or so before the
start of polls,
in the presence of various party-agents, and then
communicated to the
POs at all booths to paste the names of candidates
on the poll unit
in specified order. Such a procedure would have left
no time for
miscreants to rig the machines.
As per the procedure in vogue, serialization of the
candidates is done
soon after the last day of withdrawal of
nominations, i.e., as soon
as the final list of candidate running in various
constituencies is
known. The poll is generally about two weeks
thereafter, giving that
whole period for the miscreants to rig the machines
in connivance
with the Returning Officers or the guards guarding
the machines.
It may be worth noting that I had suggested random
serialization of
the candidates in my letter to the Chief Election
Commissioner on
March 24, 2004. But they did not listen to any of my
suggestions.
In case of more sophisticated rigging with the help
of remote control
or signaling the EVM during its inactive period
right after a vote
has registered, with the help of special trigger
sequence like 9994,
even the elimination of the period between
serialization and start of
voting would be of no avail.
Now that voters have confirmed rigging of the EVMs, the
options left for the EC are as follows: 1. Cancel the whole election and order a
new one with
(a) the old
method of paper-ballot and manual counting, or
(b)
redesign the
machines with paper trails, and then hold the
election, using the new
machine.
In the latter case, redesigning of the
machine with paper
trail, and testing and manufacturing sufficient
number of them is
likely to take more than a year or so.
Thus the only
viable
alternative is good old paper ballot and manual
counting, like most
of the rest of the world.
2. After voting is finished, it is the control units
that hold the
counts. I believe the poll-units are paid scant
attention. I don't if
they even keep track of which poll-unit was used
where. It's quite
possible, while out of sight of any poll agents, the
miscreants may
un-rig it to behave normally, leaving no trace of
any wrongdoing. In
case they have been carried with the control units,
they must be
examined thoroughly. Since the poll-units do not
carry vote-counts,
their checking may start right away even before
counting is to take
place on May 13, 2004.
As for the control units,
after votes have
been read off the machines, each of control units
should be checked
thoroughly for any possible tampering.
If the poll-units have not been guarded since the
end of voting, I
think the only recourse left for us to be sure about
a free and fair
election is to do the whole election with paper
ballot and manual
counting.
In my PIL I have asked the Supreme Court for
directions. I hope it
will give a direction to save democracy in India.
-Satinath Choudhary
