India
happens to be one of the few countries ( that can be counted by the
fingers on a hand,) that use electronic voting machines (EVM) for
elections. According to my knowledge, Brazil, Bhutan and US to some
extent, are the only other countries that use such machines. The EVM
used by India ever since 2004, is described on the web site of
'Election Commission of India' as :
“An
Electronic Voting Machine consists of two Units – a Control Unit
and a Balloting Unit – joined by a five-meter cable. The Control
Unit is with the Presiding Officer or a Polling Officer and the
Balloting Unit is placed inside the voting compartment. Instead of
issuing a ballot paper, the Polling Officer in-charge of the Control
Unit will press the Ballot Button. This will enable the voter to cast
his vote by pressing the blue button on the Balloting Unit against
the candidate and symbol of his choice.”
This web site also claims that EVM's
are absolutely safe and temper proof and the experience of many
elections conducted over last 9 years, at various levels, adequately
confirms this claim to be quite true. As expected, elections being a
highly sensitive subject, doubts and queries about possible
malfunctioning and defects in the EVM's have been raised over last 9
years from all over India. All the concerns and issues have been well
addressed by the Election commission of India and today EVM's are
very much accepted pieces of electronic equipment.
However there never has been no
dearth of self professed experts in India, who believe that they can
cheat any piece of equipment or machinery with their superior expert
knowledge. One such expert has surfaced in Surkhi town from Madhya
Pradesh state, who claims that he can cheat an EVM. He is a local
resident and his name has been reported as C.P.Singh.
Last
week elections were held in Madhya Pradesh state for electing the
next Government that would rule this state for next 5 years. On
November 21st,
this Mr. Singh contacted one of the candidates from Surkhi
constituency and asked for an appointment. He told the candidate
that he can arrange to manipulate upto 3 AVM's with a single remote
control. Subsequently he sent several (at least 10) messages to the
candidate's cellphone. These messages read like this: “He can use
this device to delete all votes from the EVM." or another one
that says: “Manipulation can still be done. The EVM memory can be
formatted, but it could have an adverse effect too. I have worked in
an EVM manufacturing company.”
Quite sure about the reliability of
the AVM's, the candidate paid no heed to the messages and went about
with his work.
The
voting was carried out in Surkhi constituency on 25th
November 2013. Alarm bells started ringing all over the state, when
an electronic device was discovered below an EVM at a remote booth
in Sagar town. This device, larger than the size of a standard
mobile sim card along with three small batteries, was found wrapped
in black cloth and was kept below the EVM by someone.
Immediately, rumours about a
conspiracy theory were afloat. While some parties again came back
with old accusations that EVMs could be tampered with, Surkhi
constituency candidate, who had received call and messages from
C.P.Singh immediately tried to contact him but the man was suddenly
absconding. He says: "Singh is on the run ever since I sent my
driver to his house to inquire about the device.” When he found
that this C.P.Singh had disappeared, he reported the matter to the
police. District Superintendent of Police says that they have
launched a hunt for this C.P.Singh, who has since sneaked into
neighbouring state of Gujarat. However the police are trying to hunt
him down.
According to some so called
electronic experts, this rigging device works in this fashion. This
device has a 2 mm X 2 mm electronic chip that can receive signals
from a distance of 100 meters. Fair enough! But the next part of how
this device is supposed to work does not appear to be believable, yet
goes like this. The EVM's incorporate a similar chip. A candidate's
'number' can allegedly be transmitted to the EVM from a distance any
time before counting and the machines can change the votes inside.
This leaves no traces and ensures that the candidate whose number has
been transmitted gets highest votes.
Since I have no idea about the exact
system architecture inside an EVM, I find it difficult to predict
whether the explanation given by these experts would work in reality
or not. Yet from my little and now obsolete knowledge of electronics,
I think that this whole idea appears to be just a case of fertile
imagination. I agree that theoretically it is possible to destroy
data in a digital chip with intense electromagnets radiation, but the
level of radiation and way it is to be applied, requires such
elaborate equipment that it is impossible to do this in a voting
machine. Besides I have my own doubts, whether EVM's can accept data
in wireless form, their entire functioning and logic being based on
inputs from mechanical push button switches.
This
appears to me as a clear case of mischief mongering and trying to
create confusion amongst people. I would tend to agree with what
Chief electoral officer in charge of Madhya Pradesh elections, who
claims that the EVM machines are tamper-proof. And there is no need
to worry. In any case the truth would be soon out on 8th
Decemeber 2013, when votes would be counted.
30th
November 2013
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