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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
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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
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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.

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
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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.
9)
It is the categorical stand of the appellant that the
above said system will bring more accuracy in the present
system and if a particular election is challenged on the
ground that some particular identified voter’s voter or the
votes of a group of voters have been suppressed/have not
been correctly assigned by the EVMs, the accepted current
procedure is for a re-run of the same EVMs for a re-count,
however, under the new procedure, a re-count will be of the
receipts in the ballot box containing the printouts the EVMs
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had issued to the voter thereby ensuring more transparency
in the process.
10)
The writ petitioner has also raised similar contentions as
those of Dr. Swamy. According to the petitioner, in the
present system of voting through EVMs, there is no such
facility by which a voter can verify and confirm his own
voting. At present, a voter presses a button only but cannot
ascertain the actual voting. He is not sure whether his vote
is recorded or not, if recorded, whether it is recorded in
favour of the person to whom it was intended or not.
Whether it is valid or invalid and whether it is counted or not.
It is submitted by the petitioner that unless and until answers
to these questions are personally seen by the voter, it cannot
be said that voting is made by him because “pressing a
button of choice and getting flashed the red-light” is not
actual voting in real sense unless the voter knows well that
what has happened in consequence of pressing a button of
his choice from the EVMs.
Stand of the Election Commission of India:
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11)
Mr. Ashok Desai, learned senior counsel for the ECI
submitted that the apprehension that EVMs could be
tampered with is baseless. It was also informed to this Court
that the ECI has been exploring the possibility of
incorporating a viable Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail
(VVPAT) system as a part of the presently used EVMs to
make the election system more transparent. Further, it was
brought to our notice that the ECI conducted field trials for
VVPAT system earlier also but the same had not been
successful and were discontinued. The ECI also filed a
counter affidavit stating that the EVMs provided by the
Commission are of such a high end technology that it cannot
be hacked.
12) Referring to Section 61A of the Representation of the
People Act, 1951, it is submitted that the Statute itself
provides for recording of votes by EVMs and the ECI has been
given the discretion to prescribe recording of votes by such
EVMs as it may deem fit. This discretion has to be exercised
in a manner to preserve the sanctity of the election process
and ensure that the election is conducted in a free and fair
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manner. The ECI has exercised due diligence to ensure that
EVMs so used are “tamper proof” and it is also in the process
of exploring to incorporate VVPAT system which is
compatible with the present EVMs used by it. It is asserted
that there is no instance of tampering with EVMs so far by
anyone.
13)
It is further submitted that the EVMs used in India are
unique and unlike the ones used in the elections in USA and
other countries, which are personal computer based. EVMs
deployed by the ECI have been lauded not only in India but
also abroad. EVM’s Control Unit retains in the memory each
vote recorded elector-wise. The information stored in the
memory of the Control Unit can be retrieved by using a
device called the “decoder” which, when attached to the
Control Unit of EVM, can print out the statement of voting
data showing the order in which each voter has voted and to
whom he has voted.
14)
Insofar as the transparency of the election process as
well as the right of a voter to know whether his vote has
actually been recorded for the candidate for whom it was
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cast is concerned, it is submitted that as soon as a vote is
recorded by a voter by pressing the “candidate’s” button on
the Ballot Unit, a light glows against the name and symbol of
the candidate, which the voter can see for himself/ herself.
This is a visual (electronic) assurance to the voter that the
candidate for whom he has cast his vote has actually got that
vote. Thereafter, the light goes off to protect the secrecy of
voting.
15)
It is further submitted that the feasibility of VVPAT
system was sought to be explored to by various political
parties and they were explained the technical and
administrative safeguards. The ECI also constituted a
Technical Experts Committee to examine the viability of the
VVPAT system. On 27.05.2011, the Technical Experts
Committee, after discussion with political parties and civil
society members and also after seeing the demonstration of
the prototype VVPAT system developed by M/s. Bharat
Electronics Ltd. (BEL) and M/s. Electronics Corporation of
India Ltd. (ECIL), recommended that a field test of the
prototype VVPAT system should be carried out in a simulated
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election under different environmental conditions in
Jaisalmer, Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi, Leh and Cherapunji.
The ECI also held further meetings with the manufacturers of
EVMs on various dates to fine tune the system and expedite
the follow up action required. Several meetings were also
held with the Expert Committee on VVPAT system.
16)
In wider fulfillment of the objectives of the field trial, the
ECI has requested the National and State parties to extend
necessary cooperation by getting involved in the trial process
actively and also witness the trial in order to have a first
hand experience of the system. The ECI has also requested
the individuals including the appellant – Dr. Subramanian
Swamy and the groups, who have been engaged with the ECI
on the issue of EVM-VVPAT, to witness the trial.
17) We have carefully perused the relevant materials and
considered the rival contentions.
Discussion
18)
When the matter was listed before this Court for
hearing on 27.09.2012, Mr. Ashok Desai had brought to our
notice that the ECI is contemplating foolproof method in
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EVMs for which they are taking various steps in consultation
with the Technical Experts Committee and the views of all
recognized political parties. Mr. Desai also promised to
appraise this Court about the deliberations and the ultimate
decision to be taken by them in this regard. Accordingly, this
Court granted sufficient time to the ECI to file Status Report
regarding introduction of VVPAT system in EVMs to be used
in the elections.
19)
Pursuant to the directions of this Court, the ECI filed a
Status Report on the developments of VVPAT system. In the
said report, the ECI, citing various technicalities, prayed for
further time to make the system more robust for the field
conditions.
20)
On 15.12.2012, M/s BEL, Bangalore filed a report
showing the status of development of VVPAT system which
contains changes that have been carried out in VVPAT from
September to December, 2012 and also furnished
chronological changes made in VVPAT system after the field
trial of the VVPAT system held in July and August, 2012.
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21)
Pursuant to the directions of this Court, the Secretary,
ECI, filed an affidavit highlighting the following steps/
information:
“
(i)
That vide its Affidavit dated 14.01.2013, the
Commission had filed the status report regarding
introduction of the VVPAT system in the Electronic
Voting Machines (EVMs).
(ii)
That subsequently, in the Technical Expert
Committee meeting held on 04.02.2013, the
Committee approved the design of the VVPAT and
decided that software fine tuning will be done and
completed by the end of February, 2013, and
modified design specifications will be submitted to
the Technical Expert Committee for approval.
The Committee also recommended that the
Commission may for using the VVPAT and that the
VVPAT should be tried in a bye-election.
(iii)
That in the Technical Expert Committee
meeting held on 19.02.2013, the Committee
finalized the VVPAT design.
The manufacturers, namely, M/s. Bharat Electronics
Limited and M/s. Electronics Corporation of India
Limited have quoted Rs. 16,200/- (excluding duties,
taxes and transport charges) per VVPAT system.
The Commission has decided to purchase sufficient
units of VVPAT for trials in a Bye-election, at an
approximate cost of Rs.72,90,000/- (Rupees seventy
two lakh ninety thousand) approximately.
(iv)
It is submitted that the Commission will
require approximately 13 lakh VVPAT units to be
manufactures for 13 lakh EVMs presently available
and roughly about Rs. 1690 crores (One Thousand
Six Hundred Ninety Crores)(i.e. 13 lakh units x
Rs.13,000 per unit) are required for the purpose of
implementation of the VVPAT system taking into
account the possible reduction in the cost per unit
when produced in bulk.
(v)
It is further submitted that in order to
implement the new system the Conduct of Election
Rules, 1961 will require certain amendments.
In this connection, vide letter No.
3/1/2013/Vol.II/SDR/86 dated 28.03.2013, the
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Commission has informed the Legislative
Department of the Ministry of Law and Justice
inter
alia
the various amendments required to the
relevant parts of Rules 49A to 49X, 66A, 55C, 56C,
57C and Form 17C of the Conduct of Elections Rules,
1961, as well as introduction of Rules 49MA and 56D
in the said Rules…
(vi)
That the Commission has called for a meeting
of all the recognized National and State Parties on
10
th
May, 2013 for the purpose of demonstration of
VVPAT unit to them and for discussion with them for
eliciting their views regarding use of VVPAT system
in the elections. The petitioner herein and others
interested in the matter would also be invited at the
meeting.”
22)
It is seen from the records that after various
deliberations with the experts and persons concerned with
the technology, the Technical Experts Committee approved
the final design of VVPAT units in its meeting held on
19.01.2013. In order to meet the directions of this Court and
for proper execution of VVPAT system, as noticed above, the
ECI in its letter dated 28.03.2013, addressed to the Secretary
to the Government of India, Ministry of Law and Justice stated
that necessary ground work for amendment to the Conduct
of Election Rules, 1961 (in relevant parts in Rules 49A to 49X,
66A, 55C, 56C, 57C and Form 17C) may be made so that the
amendment to the Rules can be notified immediately which
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will enable the ECI to use the VVPAT system in bye-elections
in consultation with the political parties. By placing all those
materials, the ECI requested the Ministry of Law and Justice
for drafting and notifying amendment Rules expeditiously.
23)
From the materials placed by the ECI, it is noted that
the purchase order has been placed with M/s BEL and M/s
ECIL for supplying 150 and 300 VVPAT units respectively at
Rs. 16,200/- per unit excluding excise duty, sales tax and
transportation etc. costing Rs. 72,90,000/- (approx.). The ECI
has also highlighted that if the VVPAT systems are ultimately
to be used with all the 13 lakh EVMs available, the total cost
in the purchase of VVPAT units may come to about Rs. 1,690
crores, taking into account the possible reduction in the cost
per unit due to bulk production the cost may come to Rs.
13,000/- per unit approximately.
24)
The affidavit dated 21.08.2013, filed on behalf of the
ECI, shows that the Ministry of Law and Justice, on
24.07.2013, referred the draft notification to amend the
Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 to provide for use of VVPAT
system of elections to the ECI for its views and comments.
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The ECI suggested certain minor modifications in the draft
notification and sent the same back to the Ministry of Law
and Justice on 02.08.2013 with a request to notify the
amendment Rules at the earliest. Accordingly, the Ministry
of Law and Justice notified the amendments to the Conduct
of Election Rules, 1961 in the Gazette of India vide
notification No. S.O. 2470(E) dated 14.08.2013 to enable use
of VVPAT with EVMs.
25)
The aforesaid affidavit of the ECI also shows that the
ECI had also convened a meeting of all the recognized
National and State political parties on 10.05.2013 and
demonstrated before their representatives the working of
VVPAT system. Separately, on the same day, the ECI also
held a meeting with individuals including the appellant
herein who had been engaged with the ECI over the past
several years regarding the functioning of EVMs. VVPAT
system was demonstrated before them as well.
Representatives of political parties and other individuals
expressed their satisfaction over the VVPAT system.
Thereafter, the ECI had decided to use the VVPAT system in
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the bye-election from 51-Noksen (ST) Assembly Constituency
in the State of Nagaland. Instructions were issued to hold
special meetings with the contesting candidates in that
constituency to brief them about the use of VVPAT system.
The ECI also organized special training sessions for poll
officers for the use of VVPAT and steps were taken to
educate the electors for the same.
26)
After various hearings, when the matter was heard on
4.10.2013, an affidavit dated 01.10.2013 filed on behalf of
the ECI was placed before this Court. The said affidavit was
filed to place on record the performance/result of the
introduction of the VVPAT system in the bye-election from
51-Noksen (ST) Assembly Constituency of Nagaland for which
the poll was conducted on 04.09.2013 indicating the future
course of action to be decided by the ECI on the basis of said
performance. By this affidavit, it was brought to our notice
that since VVPAT system was being used for the first time,
the ECI has decided that intensive training shall be given to
the polling officers. Members of the Technical Experts
Committee of the ECI also went to supervise training and the
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actual use of VVPAT in the bye-election. It is further stated
that the ECI also wrote letters to all the recognized political
parties and other persons, including the appellant herein,
engaged with the ECI on this subject inviting them to witness
the use of VVPAT. It is also brought to our notice that VVPAT
was successfully used in all the 21 polling stations of 51-
Noksen (ST) Assembly Constituency of Nagaland. It was also
stated that as per the Rules, the paper slips of VVPAT shall
not be counted normally except in case the Returning Officer
decides to count them on an application submitted by any of
the candidates. However, since VVPAT system was being
used for the first time in any election, the ECI decided on its
own to count paper slips of VVPAT in respect of all polling
stations. According to the ECI, no discrepancy was found
between the electronic and paper count.
27)
In the said affidavit, it is finally stated that the ECI has
decided to increase the use of VVPAT units in a phased
manner and for this purpose the ECI has already written to
the Government of India, Ministry of Law and Justice to issue
administrative and financial sanction for procurement of
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20,000 units of VVPAT (10,000 each from M/s BEL and M/s
ECIL) costing about Rs. 38.01 crore.
28)
Though initially the ECI was little reluctant in
introducing “paper trail” by use of VVPAT, taking note of the
advantage in the system as demonstrated by Dr.
Subramanian Swamy, we issued several directions to the
ECI . Pursuant to the same, the ECI contacted several expert
bodies, technical advisers, etc. They also had various
meetings with National and State level political parties,
demonstrations were conducted at various places and finally
after a thorough examination and full discussion, VVPAT was
used successfully in all the 21 polling stations of 51-Noksen
(ST) Assembly Constituency of Nagaland. The information
furnished by the ECI, through the affidavit dated 01.10.2013,
clearly shows that VVPAT system is a successful one. We
have already highlighted that VVPAT is a system of printing
paper trail when the voter casts his vote, in addition to the
electronic record of the ballot, for the purpose of verification
of his choice of candidate and also for manual counting of
votes in case of dispute.
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29)
From the materials placed by both the sides, we are
satisfied that the “paper trail” is an indispensable
requirement of free and fair elections. The confidence of the
voters in the EVMs can be achieved only with the
introduction of the “paper trail”. EVMs with VVPAT system
ensure the accuracy of the voting system. With an intent to
have fullest transparency in the system and to restore the
confidence of the voters, it is necessary to set up EVMs with
VVPAT system because vote is nothing but an act of
expression which has immense importance in democratic
system.
30)
In the light of the above discussion and taking notice of
the pragmatic and reasonable approach of the ECI and
considering the fact that in general elections all over India,
the ECI has to handle one million (ten lakhs) polling booths,
we permit the ECI to introduce the same in gradual stages or
geographical-wise in the ensuing general elections. The
area, State or actual booth(s) are to be decided by the ECI
and the ECI is free to implement the same in a phased
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manner. We appreciate the efforts and good gesture made
by the ECI in introducing the same.
31)
For implementation of such a system (VVPAT) in a
phased manner, the Government of India is directed to
provide required financial assistance for procurement of units
of VVPAT.
32)
Before parting with the case, we record our appreciation
for the efforts made by Dr. Subramanian Swamy as well as
the ECI, in particular Mr. Ashok Desai and Ms. Meenakshi
Arora, learned senior counsel for the ECI.
33)
With the above directions, the appeal and the writ
petition are disposed of. No separate order is required in the
applications for intervention. Both sides are permitted to
approach this Court for further direction(s), if need arises.
………………………………………….CJI
(P. SATHASIVAM)
………………………………………..J.
(RANJAN GOGOI)
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NEW DELHI;
OCTOBER 8, 2013.

SAMAPATH, EVM GOVERNMENT- NEED OF THE HOUR IS Electronic Virtual Movement 4 Replacing all EVMs (EVM4RAEVMs) to save Democracy.

Ex CJI EVM SADHASIVAM, shirked its duty & committed a grave error
of judgment by allowing in phased manner Fraud Tamperable EVMs on the
request of CEC EVM SAMPATH because of the 1600 crore cost to replace
them and dealt a fatal blow to the Country’s democracy.

Ex CJI
did not order for ballot paper system would be brought in. No such
precautionary measure was decreed by the apex court. Ex CJI did not
order that till the time this newer set of about 1300000 voting machines
is manufactured in full & deployed totally. All the people in 80
democracies in the world who simply done away with fradulent EVMs should
not recognise EVM Modi & his Government.

EVM Narendra Modi
full of hatred for non-brahmins & non baniyas intoxicated for power
violated all good Silas of not killing, lying, stealing. EVM Militant
Violent Stealth Cult RSS saying no reservation on the basis of castes
means it is against Constitution providing reservation for SC/STs. RSS’s
Mr. Mohan Bagawath, a brahmin & a dropout is not a Constitutional
expert to say that there should not be any caste based reservation.

Attempt to E-File through http://sc-efiling.nic.in/sc-efiling/registration.jsp while trying to attach Driving Licence through http://sc-efiling.nic.in/sc-efiling/identity_file.jsp - got the result java.lang. StringIndexOutOfBounds Exception: String index out of range: - could not proceed further.

Brought this to the notice of supremecour@nic.in without any response.
through supremecour[at]nic[dot]in with a confusion whether it is
supremecour[at]nic[dot]in supremecour@nic.in or
supremecourt[at]nic[dot]in
supremecourt@nic.inhttp://goidirectory.nic.in/feedback.php - all
maintained by wim@nic.in also does not work. It often says “invalid
characters found, Please Re-Enter”

A correct procedure for E-Filing must be known to all procedures/ steps required to be taken for E-Filing process ? http://www.indg.in/…/ict-in-legal-servi…/egov-legal-efilling
Supreme Court initiatives for citizens via e -Filing - e-Filing in
Supreme Court of IndiaSupreme Court of India is also on the e-governance
track and providing its services at doorstep of the Indian citizens.

In this regard, on October 2, 2006 Supreme Court started e-filing
facility. It is a simple way of filing any case via internet from his
house. e-filing via internet does not require the help of advocate.

This service can be utilized by any common man as well as registered
advocate. Anybody desiring to avail this service may log on to www.sc-efiling.nic.in/sc-efiling/index.html and sign up as a user.

For sign up procedure please follow up these steps: First time users of
Supreme Court’s E-filing have to register him/her through the ‘Sign Up’
option.Through ‘e-FILING’ only Advocate-on Record’ and
petitioners-in-person can file cases in the Supreme Court of India
Advocate option is to be chosen if you are an ‘Advocate-on-Record’,
otherwise choose ‘In-person’ option in case you are
petitioner-in-person.

For registering first time personal details
such as Address, contact details, E-mail Id etc., which are mandatory,
need to be entered.For Advocate-on-record, his/her code
(Advocate-on-record code) will be ‘Login-ID’, while ‘In-person’will
create his/her Login-Id through ‘Sign Up’ option. Password needs to be
entered thereafter. Login Id and password will be created once the
mandatory requirements are filled properly. After successful login the
‘Disclaimer screen’ appears on the screen.

Clicking of ‘I agree’
button on Disclaimer allows the user to proceed further, while ‘I
decline’ button sends the control back to the Login screen. After
successful login, the user can file the case electronically. ‘New Case’
option allows the user to file a new case ‘Modify’ option allows a user
to carryout changes to the already e-filed case, provided the court fee
payment option is not invoked. Defects associated with the e-filed case
will be e-mailed to the advocate/petitioner by the Supreme Court
Registry.For further assistance, ‘Help’ option is available.Click here
to file case online in Supreme Court of India http://kohram.in/ten-reasons-for-banning-indian-evms/
- Reasons For Banning Fradulent Tamperable EVMs 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 this country 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 Deficit1.

The Whole World has Discarded Similar EVMs.

The electronic voting machines used in this country’s 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. This country 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! This country’s EVMs may also be held unconstitutional
because they infringe upon the fundamental rights of the voters. In this
country, 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 preserve
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.

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 Secure Spin, 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. This country’s 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 our country’s 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 our country’s 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 this country. There is every
possibility that some of these “insiders” are involved in murky
activities in fixing elections. The whole world—except us in this
country–is alive to the dangers of insider fraud in elections. The
“insiders” include the public sector manufacturers of this country’s
electronic voting machines namely, the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)
and Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL), the foreign companies
supplying micro controllers, 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 Country’s 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.

How EVM Works and how can changed it’s functionality Watch this video [youtube id=”ZlCOj1dElDY” width=”620″ height=”360″]

- See more at: http://kohram.in/ten-reasons-for-banning-indian-evms/… youtube id=”ZlCOj1dElDY” width=”620″ height=”360″ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCOj1dElDY

This country’s EVMs are Vulnerable to Fraud-Contrary to claims by our
country,s election authorities, the paperless electronic voting systems
used in India suffer from significant vulnerabilities. Even brief access
to the machines could allow criminals to alter election results.

In this video, we demonstrate two kinds of attacks against a real
Indian EVM. One attack involves replacing a small part of the machine
with a look-alike component that can be silently instructed to steal a
percentage of the votes in favor of a chosen candidate. These
instructions can be sent wirelessly from a mobile phone. Another attack
uses a pocket-sized device to change the votes stored in the EVM between
the election and the public counting session, which in India can be
weeks later.These attacks are neither complicated nor difficult to
perform, but they would be hard to detect or defend against. The best
way to prevent them is to count votes using paper ballots that voters
can see. indiaEVM.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br2Mjt1BecI
- EVMs Can Be Tampered - Says Net India - Net India company says that
the Electronic Voting Machines EVMs which are used in polling stations
can be tampered in favor of the candidates. Watch this to find out
more…..To watch live news, videos subscribe to CVR News @ https://www.youtube.com/user/CVRNewsO…- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1xov8mrLZc -

EVM in INDIA REALITY EXPOSED by Dr Subramanian
Swamyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3THfIvvxPY - EVMs can be tampered,
experts say - Electronic voting machines could be easily tampered to
manipulate elections results, a group of foreign experts said at a
seminar in Dhaka on Tuesday. A standing committee member of the main
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Abdul Moyeen Khan, in the
seminar said that the party would make some prototypes of the EVMs the
Election Commission made to show the people how the device could be
tampered.

Non-governmental organisation Centre for Sustainable
Development organised the seminar, ‘Electronic voting machines: use and
abuse,’ at the Lake Shore hotel in the city. The organisation’s
secretary general Mahfuzullah conducted the seminar and its president
Anwar Hashim, also a former ambassador, presided over the programme.
Computer science professor in the University of California Mathew Allen
Bishop, senior software architect of Yahoo in India Shashank Shekhar and
research and development director of Hewlett Packard of the United
States Shawn Islam made presentation in the seminar highlighting how
EVMs could be tampered. All the three experts said the EVMs could be
tampered in several ways in a short span of time to manipulate the
elections results in favour of a certain candidate if the manipulators
would get physical access to EVMs. Citing an example of the flaws of the
EVM used in the United States and in other parts of the world, Bishop
said the EVMs, electronic devices which need software to function, could
be easily tampered. Bishop, however, asked the authorities concerned to
look into certain issues before using EVMs. ‘When votes are counted,
how do you know that the button pushed to vote for scales on the ballot
unit is in fact counted as a vote for scales?’ he said. Bishop also
said, ‘How do you know that the software is correct? There are no bugs
that affect the vote counting?

How do you know that the software on the EPROM chip is the version that is supposed to be used? There was no malware?’

He said the security of the software running the EVM must be part of
the inbuilt design of the device. Earlier, Shawn Islam,m a
Bangladeshi-American, demonstrated how a vote cast for a candidate could
be stored for the candidate the voter did not vote for through software
manipulation effected beforehand. Both of the experts said that there
be a system of paper trail of the votes cast so that the voters could
see that their votes were stored for the candidate they voted for.’But,’
Shawn Islam added, ‘the EVMs developed by Bangladesh do not have any
option to add the paper trail system.’ He claimed that the EVM developed
in Bangladesh have plenty of problems. Shashank said that there was no
electronic device in the world which could not be tampered. All of the
experts said that the device must be tested by a third party before its
use.

In reply to a question whether the EVM can be manipulated
with remote control devise without physical intervention once EVMs are
tested and certified by the experts of the political parties just before
the elections, Shawn said, ‘You must have physical interventions to
manipulate it if the EVM does not belong to any wireless network.’

When a reporter asked Abdul Moyeen Khan whether the BNP would accept it
if EVMs were tested by their experts, the BNP leader parried the answer
saying that the party would develop some EVM prototypes to show how
they could be tampered.

Representatives from the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party, including its acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul
Islam Alamgir, the chairperson’s advisers Iqbal Hasan Mahmud, Sabiuddin
Ahmed, Ruhal Alam and opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque,
attended. Speaking on the occasion, former Dhaka University
vice-chancellor Moniruzzaman Mia, BRAC University professor Piash Karim
and Sushaner Janya Nagarik secretary Badiul Alam Majumder stressed the
need for building trust among political parties before introducing any
new device in the elections process.The country’s two major political
camps are now at loggerheads over the introduction of EVMs in the next
polls. The ruling Awami League-led alliance said that it would extend
all cooperation to the E C in using EVMs in the next general elections
while the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance vowed to
resist the move.Attachments area- Preview YouTube video India’s EVMs are
Vulnerable to Fraud
-Preview YouTube video EVMs Can Be Tampered -
Says Net India Preview YouTube video EVM in INDIA REALITY EXPOSED by Dr
Subramanian Swamy