Mischief mongering at its worst

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 21^st, 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 25^th 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 8^th Decemeber 2013, when votes would be counted.

30^th November 2013

India's Election commission beckons Arab Spring

During the decades of 1950 and early 60's, when Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister, India was quite pally with Egypt, under rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nehru and Nasser, along with Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia, shared an international group, which was known as Non aligned Movement. Those were the days of great bonhomie between India and Egypt. Indian Government and Government of President Abdul Nasser, collaborated on many joint projects. After the demise of these great leaders, those days of friendship were soon lost. Egypt moved towards Soviet block first and later moved on and became friendly with Americans. The special relationship between India and Egypt evaporated and only formal relations remained.

As democracy grew from strength to strength in India, Egypt was driven deeper and deeper towards autocracy, with successive dictators ruling the country. Last year the Arab spring movement brought first glimmer of hope to Egyptians. As things finally turned out, Egyptians won their battle for democracy and ordinary Egyptians must have heaved a sigh of relief. Regretfully, the problem is not as yet over. Even though ordinary Egyptians like you and me are eagerly looking ahead for a democratic republic of Egypt. In reality, they have just won only a battle, they might still loose the war, if they are not vigilant. To become a true democracy, Egypt must hold a free and fair election to select new leaders, who can rule the country for a fixed period only. The power of selecting these leaders now and also in future, must lie firmly and precisely in the hands of the Egyptian masses.

India's elections are free and fair because there is a statutory independent body known as Election commission of India that entirely controls the election process. Over the years it has evolved requisite hardware and software to facilitate the process. A model code of conduct for the candidates and the Political parties is in place. For any country embarking upon the path of democracy, the expertise of the Election Commission of India can be really very useful. In July 1993, India helped Cambodia in conducting a free and fair election under auspices of United Nations Transitional Authority for Cambodia (UNTAC). While talking to ordinary Cambodian people, I have heard praise for India for this effort. India's Election Commission has set up a school named as India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIDEM), which provides training to officials engaged in elections. Many officials from number of countries across the world have been trained in this institute.

Perhaps realizing that India's expertise in carrying out free and fair elections, could be extremely useful for his country, Egypt’s Secretary General of Supreme Election Committee, Hatem Bagato, has arrived in India for a three-day visit. He will sign an Memorandum of understanding with Chief Election Commissioner of India Mr. V.S. Sampath this week. Mr. Bagato says that this visit is aimed at helping Egypt to establish a functioning democratic system after studying the best practices adopted by other nations during elections. As per this MOU, besides exchange of election management techniques, the Election Commission of India will also support Egypt in building resources of its poll personnel and provide training to them at the (IIDEM). Mr. Hatem Bagato will also discuss with Chief Election Commissioner of India other issues like exchange of ideas and future cooperation in the field of election management between the two nations.

Since 1995, India has been using indigenously developed Electronic Voting Machines or EVM's in all elections. Egypt has evinced a keen interest in these voting machines used in India and wants to study them for use in their country in future elections. An Egyptian polling officer has remarked that “As Egyptian government is keen on introducing Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) during its elections in future, the visit will provide an opportunity to observe one of the advanced and widely practiced systems in the world.”

It seems that Brand India has just got extended from Bollywood, Indian curries, fashions and TV serials. It now also includes conducting free and fair elections.

20 September 2012