IANS quoted Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad as saying soon after his party`s defeat in Orissa in July 2009.
• LK Advani has demanded a paper back-up to electronic voting.
Parties such as CPM, TDP, AIADMK, RJD, LJP and Trinamool Congress have joined the chorus.
• In 2001, Capt. Amarinder Singh, Punjab Pradesh Congress
Committee alleged that EVMs can be tampered with.(
ttp://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010312/main4.htm
• In 2009, Chandrababu Naidu blamed the EVMs for his defeat. (
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/now,-naidu-blames-evms-720
• In 2009, AIADMK urged the EC to revert back to paper ballots,
saying that EVMs were rigged in Lok Sabha polls
(http://www.thehindu.com/2009/05/28/stories/2009052850110100.htm)
• When the Indian National Congress surpassed all projections to
win 262 seats in 2009, According to Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President
of the Janata Party (24-8-2010) , the Leader of Indian National
Congress Mrs. Sonia Gandhi reportedly hired hackers to hack into
election results of the electronic voting machines, which resulted in
landslide victory of the Indian National Congress in the national
elections in 2009. (Electronic Voting Machine: Excellent tool of
manipulation- by News Desk, December 17,
2011-http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1993/electronic-voting-machine-excellent-tool)
• In 2004, the Hon. Kerala High Court has asked EC to consider
representation seeking changes in the EVMs. to consider suggestions of
Prof. Satinath Choudhary and address issues concerning possible
tampering of EVMs
( http://www.thehindu.com/2009/05/27/stories/2009052751030200.htm
• On 1st December, 2010, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of
Bangladesh announced that there will be full electronic voting system
in Bangladesh to arrange the future elections in a flawless manner. But
there are serious allegations that a group of “election planners” of
the ruling party has already contacted a number of leading EVM hackers
in India, including the most infamous “Cyber Army”. According to
unconfirmed sources, the ruling party influential figures from
Bangladesh are already bargaining a “package deal” with the Indian
hackers in ensuring a massive victory and re-election of Bangladesh
Awami League during the election in 2014 in exchange of a huge amount of
money. Initially, the Indian hackers demanded US$ 1 billion for this
service; while the figure has already been brought down to US$ 400
million and the ruling party men are optimistic of getting even a
cheaper deal with the Indian hackers. Once the deal will be successfully
concluded, there will be visibly no way in stopping the ruling party
from getting re-elected in the election of 2014. Bangladesh has
indigenously developed its own electronic voting machines. Bangladesh
University of Engineering & Technology (BUET) has developed these
systems. (http://www.indianevm.com/blogs/?cat=3 )
Possible solutions
Nine safeguards recommended by International Electrical &
Electronics Engineering Journal (May 2009, p 23) should be incorporated.
EVMs should print a paper record of each vote, to be deposited in a
conventional ballot box. This ensures physical evidence and speedy
results. A Voter Verified Paper Ballot (VVPB) provides an auditable way
to assure voters that their ballots will be available to be counted.
Without VVPB there is no way to independently audit the election
results.
Use two machines produced by different manufacturers to records votes.
Expose the software behind EVMs to public scrutiny. Having the software
closely examined by independent experts would make it easier to close
technical loopholes that hackers can exploit.
Booth monitoring: Strict monitoring of the activities inside the polling
booth is important to eliminate human elements responsible for fraud
and corruption .
EVMs may be needed, but this is not the best option for corruption
prone environment that exist in our country.