Ten Reasons For Banning Indian EVMs
    •    Special Report
May 17, 2014
4 91

Electronic
voting machines (EVMs) were introduced in a limited way in Indian
elections in 1982, and they have been in universal use since the general
elections of 2004, when paper ballots were phased out completely. It is
about time India reformed its voting system to ensure that the
electoral verdicts reflect the true will of the people of the country.
    •    1. The Whole World has Discarded Similar EVMs
    •    2. Use of EVMs is Unconstitutional and Illegal Too!
    •    3. EVM Software Isn’t Safe
    •    4. …..Nor is The Hardware
    •    5. EVMs are Sitting Ducks
    •    6. “Insider” Fraud a Concern
    •    7. Storage and Counting are Concerns
    •    8. Vote of No Confidence
    •    9. EC is Clueless on Technology
    •    10. Trust Deficit

1. The Whole World has Discarded Similar EVMs

The
electronic voting machines used in Indian elections are internationally
known as Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting  machines which
record votes directly in electronic memory. Similar voting machines have
been banned in many countries such as Germany, the Netherlands,
Irelands etc. and such machines are allowed in most states of the US
only with a paper back up. Potential dangers of “vote fraud” and more
importantly, lack of transparency and verifiability associated with them
prompted ban or restrictions of their use.

Developed nations
like the United Kingdom and France and advanced countries in our region
like Japan and Singapore have so far stuck to voting on paper ballots,
owing to their simplicity, verifiability and voter confidence in the
system. India is an exception to this international trend and we
continue to use these  voting machines long discarded by the world due
to lack of awareness and appreciation of the lay public of the concerns.

2. Use of EVMs is Unconstitutional and Illegal Too!

Indian
EVMs may also be held unconstitutional because they infringe upon the
fundamental rights of the voters. In India, Right to vote is a legal
right but how that vote should be exercised by a voter is his/ her
individual expression covered by Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution,
which guarantees fundamental rights to the citizens.
In the 2002
case pertaining to disclosure of assets and the criminal background of
candidates, the Supreme Court ruled that voters have a right to know the
antecedents of the contesting candidates and this is fundamental and
basic for survival of democracy. Accordingly, a voter has the right to
know that his vote which he exercised as a part of freedom of expression
has really gone in favour of the candidate whom he/she has chosen. This
right, fundamental in nature, is absent in the electronic voting
system.
In the traditional paper ballot system, that fundamental
right was preserved because a voter knew exactly how his/ her vote was
recorded and Universal use of EVMs in Indian elections is illegal too!
In 1984, the Supreme Court of India held that the use of electronic
voting machines in elections was “illegal” as the Representation of
People (RP) Act, 1951 did not permit use of voting machines in
elections. Later, the R.P. Act was amended in 1989 incorporating Section
61A.
However, the amendment says voting machines “may be adopted in
such constituency or constituencies as the Election Commission may,
having regard to the circumstances of each case, specify.” Violating the
provisions of the R.P Act, the Election Commission has conducted 2004
and 2009 nationwide general elections only using  electronic voting
machines. Going by the 1984 judgment of the Supreme Court, parliamentary
elections of 2004 and 2009 may be held illegal.
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3. EVM Software Isn’t Safe

The
electronic voting machines are safe and secure only if the source code
used in the EVMs is genuine. Shockingly, the EVM manufacturers, the BEL
and ECIL, have shared the ‘top secret’ EVM software program with two
foreign companies, Microchip (USA) and Renesas (Japan) to copy it onto
microcontrollers used in EVMs. This process could have been done
securely in-house by the Indian Worse, when the foreign companies
deliver microcontrollers fused with software code to the EVM
manufacturers, the EVM manufacturers cannot “read back” their contents
as they are either OTP-ROM or masked chips.

Amusingly, the
software given to foreign companies is not even made available with the
Election Commission, ostensibly for security reasons. With such
ridiculous decisions, the Election Commission and the public sector
manufacturers have rendered security of the EVMs a mockery.  Adopting an
open standards policy by making the software public and allowing
parties to test the software installed in the EVMs would have offered
better

4. …..Nor is The Hardware

The danger for EVM
manipulations is not just from its software. Even the hardware isn’t
safe. Dr. Alex Halderman, professor of computer science in the
University of Michigan says, “EVMs used in the West require software
attacks as they are sophisticated voting machines and their hardware
cannot be replaced cheaply.
In contrast, the Indian EVMs can easily
be replaced either in part or as wholesale units.” One crucial part that
can be faked is microcontrollers used in the EVMs in which the software
is copied. EVM manufacturers have greatly facilitated fraud by using
generic microcontrollers rather than more secure ASIC or FPGA
microcontrollers. Not just only microcontrollers, mother boards (cards
which contain microcontrollers) and entire EVMs can be replaced. Neither
the Election Commission nor the manufacturers have undertaken any
hardware or software audit till date.

As a result, such
manipulation attempts would go undetected. To detect such fraud, the
upgraded EVMs have a provision to interface with an Authentication Unit
that would allow the manufacturers to verify whether the EVM being used
in the election is the same that they have supplied to the Election
Commission.
The EVM manufacturers developed an “Authentication
Unit” engaging the services of SecureSpin, a Bangalore based software
services firm. The Unit was developed and tested in 2006 but when the
project was ready for implementation, the project was mysteriously
shelved at the instance of the Election Commission. Several questions
posed to the Election Commission for taking this decision went
unanswered.

5. EVMs are Sitting Ducks

The Indian EVMs can
be hacked both before and after elections to alter election results.
Apart from manipulating the EVM software and replacing many hardware
parts discussed above, discussions with knowledgeable sources revealed
that Indian EVMs can be hacked in many ways. I mention just two of them
below. Each EVM contains two EEPROMs inside the Control Unit in which
the  voting data is stored.

They are completely unsecured and the
data inside EEPROMs can be manipulated from an external source. It is
very easy to read (data from) the EEPROMs and manipulate them. The
second and the most deadly way to hack Indian EVMs is by inserting a
chip with Trojan inside the display section of the Control unit. This
requires access to the EVM for just two minutes and these replacement
units can be made for a few hundred rupees. Bypassing completely all
inbuilt securities, this chip would manipulate the results and give out
“fixed” results on the EVM screen. The Election Commission is completely
oblivious to such possibilities. A demonstration of these
vulnerabilities is on the cards.

6. “Insider” Fraud a Concern

Personal
accounts from some well placed political sources and experts say that
there are some “insiders” demanding vast sums (Rs. 5 Crore for each
assembly constituency) to fix election results. Who are these insiders?
Unlike in the traditional ballot system where only the election
officials were the “insiders”, electronic voting machine regime has
spawned a long chain of insiders, all of whom are outside the ambit and
control of the Election Commission of India.

There is every
possibility that some of these  “insiders” are involved in murky
activities in fixing elections. The whole world—except us in India–is
alive to the dangers of insider fraud in elections. The “insiders”
include the public sector manufacturers of India’s electronic voting
machines namely, the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics
Corporation of India (ECIL), the foreign companies supplying
microcontrollers,private players (some of which are allegedly owned by
some political leaders) for carrying out checking and  maintenance of
electronic voting machines during

7. Storage and Counting are Concerns

The
EVMs are stored at the district headquarters or in a decentralized
manner in different locations. Election Commission’s  concern for EVM
safety becomes apparent only during elections, where as security experts
say that voting machines must remain in a secure environment throughout
their life cycle. There could be many malpractices associated with
electronic counting. “Everybody watches polling closely. Nobody watches
counting as closely),” says Bev Harris, an American activist.

Our
Election Commission takes three months to conduct parliamentary
elections but wants counting to be over in just three hours! In the rush
to declare results and the winners, several serious lapses go unnoticed
in the counting process. As a result, parties cannot give it the kind
of attention that this activity deserves. Massive discrepancies between
votes polled and counted in a large number of polling stations across
the country raise serious concerns in this regard.

8. Vote of No Confidence

The
political class cutting across all sides of the divide has just one
verdict: “we don’t trust the EVMs”. This vote of “no  confidence” stems
from the personal experiences of parties and leaders as well as the
nature of results thrown up by the EVMs. Parties are looking at EVMs
with great suspicion and dread the prospect of EVMs “defeating” them.
This
mistrust in EVMs is not confined to any single party and is all
pervasive. Almost all mainstream political parties, including the BJP,
Congress, left parties, regional parties like the Telugu Desam party
(TDP), AIADMK, Samajwadi party, Rastriya Lok Dal (RLD), Janata Dal
(United) etc. have all expressed reservation about EVMs in the aftermath
of 2009 Lok Sabha polls. Even the Congress party that decisively won
the 2009 general elections alleged that the EVMs have been manipulated
in Orissa. Today, it is difficult to find parties that vouch for the
continued use of EVMs in Indian elections. On the contrary, there is a
flood of opposition to the EVMs from the political class.

9. EC is Clueless on Technology

The
Election Commission has adopted the EVM technology about which it has
practically no knowledge. As a result, it has little  control over many
aspects of the election process. None of the election commissioners,
neither the present commissioners nor their predecessors, have proper
understanding of the EVM technology. The only source of technical
understanding for the Election Commission is a Committee of experts led
by its chairman, Prof. P.V. Indiresan. Even the Expert Committee seems
very weak in its capacities and understanding. Alex Halderman, professor
of computer science at the  University of Michigan and an expert on the
security of voting systems who was present in New Delhi for the launch
of the book, Democracy at Risk, Can We Trust our EVMS? commented, “When I
read the 2006 technical report prepared by the Expert Committee of the
Election Commission. I scribbled on it that there was a cause for alarm
and quickly decided to agree to come here.” That speaks volumes for the
quality and rigor of security testing done on the Indian EVMs.

10. Trust Deficit

Election
Commission’s conduct in the wake of the serious reservations expressed
by people has been unbecoming of a  constitutional body. It has uttered
many lies – our EVMs are “tamper proof”, they are “different” etc. etc.
It has refused to provide any clarifications sought to the petitioners
in the Supreme Court, despite a reference from the Supreme Court of
India. It has taken several questionable decisions for which it has
refused to offer any explanations.

For instance, it does not
explain why old EVMs were used in Lok Sabha elections despite the
recommendations of its own Expert Committee. It does not explain why as
many as 4.48 Lakh new EVMs (which are more secure as per the Expert
Committee) were not used in any Congress party or UPA ruled states? Why
and where it had allowed use of state government owned EVMs? The
non-transparent conduct of Election Commission in the use of EVMs and
the farce of an “enquiry” it has conducted following serious
reservations on EVMs does not inspire confidence in its unbiased
functioning.

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http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/outtoday/9093.pdf

Page 1
REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO.9093 OF 2013
(Arising out of SLP (Civil) No. 13735 of 2012)
Dr. Subramanian Swamy
…. Appellant(s)
Versus
Election Commission of India
…. Respondent(s)
WITH
WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 406 OF 2012
J U D G M E N T
P. Sathasivam, CJI.
1) Leave granted.
Civil Appeal @ SLP (C) No. 13735 of 2012
2) This appeal is directed against the judgment and order
dated 17.01.2012 passed by the Division Bench of the High
Court of Delhi at New Delhi in W.P.(C) No. 11879 of 2009
whereby the High Court disposed of the petition by
1

Page 2
disallowing the prayer made by the appellant herein for
issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the Election
Commission of India (ECI)-Respondent herein to incorporate
a system of “paper trail/paper receipt” in the Electronic
Voting Machines (EVMs) as a convincing proof that the EVM
has rightly registered the vote cast by a voter in favour of a
particular candidate.

3) Being aggrieved of the above, the present appeal has
been filed by way of special leave.

Writ Petition (Civil) No. 406 of 2012

4)One Rajendra Satyanarayan Gilda has filed this Writ
Petition, under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, praying
for issuance of a writ of mandamus/
direction(s) directing the Union of India, the Chief Election Commissioner and the
Technical Experts Committee-Respondent Nos. 1-3 herein
respectively to effect the necessary modifications in the
EVMs so as to allow the voters to verify their respective votes
and to attach the printers to the EVMs with a facility to print
the running record of the votes for the purpose of verification
by the voters in the process of voting. He also prayed for a

Page 3
direction to frame guidelines and to effect necessary
amendments in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

5) In view of the pendency of the appeal filed by Dr.
Subramanian Swamy, this Court issued notice in the writ
petition and tagged with the said appeal.

6) Heard Dr. Subramanian Swamy, appellant-in-person in
the appeal, Dr. R.R. Deshpande, learned counsel for the writ
petitioner, Mr. Ashok Desai and Ms. Meenakshi Arora, learned
senior counsel for the ECI.

Contentions:

7) Dr. Subramanian Swamy, the appellant herein
contended before this Court that the present system of
EVMs, as utilized in the last few general elections in India,
does not meet all the requirements of the international
standards and though the ECI maintains that the EVMs
cannot be tampered with, but the fact is that EVMs, like all
electronic equipments, are open to hacking.

8) The appellant has further highlighted that the instant
matter arises out of the refusal of the ECI to incorporate a
certain obvious safeguard in the EVMs called “paper

Page  4
backup”, “paper receipt” or “paper trail”, presently in use
and mandated in some countries like USA, which would easily
and cheaply meet the requirement of proof that the EVM has
rightly registered the vote cast by a voter. The appellant has
further highlighted that the “paper trail” system is to
supplement the procedure of voting as in this procedure,
after recording a vote in the EVM, a print out will come out
which will appraise the voter that his vote has been rightly
registered and the same will be deposited in a box which can
only be used by the ECI in case of election dispute.