encebetweenthevotespolledand
thevotescounted nationwidewasa
staggering54.65lakh.
It is arguedthatif suchlargedis-
crepancieshaveshownup in basic
official data(theE.C.nowclaims
thatthefigureswereprovisional and
hencemisleading),if manipulation
didactually takeplace,theshiftof
votesfromonecandidateto another
wouldbe alarmingly higher.TheE.C.
hasbeenunableto providea reason-
ableresponse to theseconcerns. It
hasnotorderedanyinquiryintothe
serious allegations either. Most
countries thatuseEVMshavemade
theirtechnologypublic.Butthees-
tablishmentin Indiastubbornly re-
fusesto be transparentabout its
EVMs. Even questions under the
RTIAct haveso far failedto elicitany
concrete answers.Thisinexplicable
opaqueness hasfurtherfuelled con-
spiracytheories.
ONHIGH-TECHRIGGING
In “MakingElectronicVotingMa-
chinesTamper-proof:SomeAdmin-
istrative andTechnicalSuggestions”,
a policywatch documentpublished
by TheHinduCentrefor Politicsand
PublicPolicy in October 2018, K.
AshokVardhanShetty,a formerIn-
dianAdministrativeServiceofficial,
quotesfromtheBritishmathem-
aticianandartificialintelligence ex-
pert Roger Penrose’s 1994 book
Shadowsof theMind. In the context
of the 2019election,it is pertinentto
revisitPenrose’sprescientobserva-
tionson EVMs.
Toquotefrom Shetty’spaper:
“...Roger Penrose, the globally
renowned British mathematician
andauthorityon ArtificialIntelli-
gence,visualisedthe hi-techrigging
of an electionas follows. Thedateof a
long-awaited election approaches.
Numerousopinionpollsare held
overa periodof severalweeks.To a
veryconsistentdegree, theruling
partytrailsby threeor fourpercent
but all the pollstakentogether have a
muchsmallermarginof error,of less
thantwoper cent. Pollingdayarrives
andpasses,the pollsbeingheldwith
electronicvotingmachines. When
the votesare counted, the resultis a
completesurprise to almost every-
one.Therulingpartyis backwitha
comfortable majority, having
achieved its targetof eightpercent
[lead]overits nearestrivals.Yet the
resultis false. Thevote-rigginghas
beenachievedby a highly subtle
means,namely, a computervirus.
Theviruswascleverlyprogrammed
to stealvotesfromotherparties and
givetherulingpartypreciselythe
majorityit needs.Thevirus does
morethanjuststealvotes;it self-
destructs,leavingno recordwhatso-
ever,bar the evildeeditself,to indic-
ate its previous existence.”
According to Penrose, twocondi-
tionsarenecessary foran election
fraudto succeed.First,thevoting
machine hasto be programmable;
andsecond,thevote-counting pro-
cessshould notbe checked by hu-
mansat anystage.Shettyexplains
thatit followed fromPenrose’sfirst
conditionthatan idealEVMshould
be a stand-alone, non-networked
machine witha centralprocessing
unit (CPU) whose software was
burntintoit andcouldnotbe pro-
grammed aftermanufactureor ma-
nipulatedin anymanner.
ShettynotesthatIndian EVMs
fit intothisdescription. Theyare
more like calculators than com-
putersandare notconnected to any
network(wiredor wireless),includ-
ingtheInternet,andif theyretaintheirphysical integrity, theycannot
be hacked.“Butwhatif dishonest
insidersandcriminals getphysical
accessto theEVMsandreplacethe
EVM’snon-hackable CPU witha
look-alikebuthackableCPUthat
canbe programmedto countvotes
dishonestlytogetherwithan embed-
dedBluetoothdevicethatallows it to
be remotecontrolled?”saysShetty.
He goeson to explain in therestof
the paperhowit is possibleto tamper
withEVMsandstealvoteson a scale
largeenoughto change electionout-
comesevenwithall the securityfea-
turesandadministrativesafeguards
in place.UNANSWEREDQUESTIONS
TheEVMs,accordingto the E.C.,are
nothackable because of twofactors.
First,as theyarenotconnectedto
anynetwork,the machinescannotbe
manipulated. Secondly, they are
OTP,or one-time programmable,
devices.Giventhestonewallingby
the E.C.whenit comes to givingin-
formation,opinionsare dividedover
thesecond claim. Experts whom
Frontlinespoketo anddocuments
reviewed throw up the following
questions:
●Themain pillarof theE.C.’s
defenceof secureEVMs—that they
are one-time programmable—was
demolishedby a recentRTIquerybyCOUNTINGOFFICIALSopeningthe sealof thecontrolunit of anEVMin the
presenceof representativesof candidatesat a countingcentre for Anandpur
Sahibparliamentaryconstituencyat KhooniMajrain PunjabonMay 23.AKHILESHKUMAR