commercial world with their
products, says Shetty. The E.C.
wouldbe makinga gravemistakeif it
overestimated thesecurityfeatures
of its EVMsandits administrative
safeguardsandunderestimated the
technicalprowess of attackersor if it
thought thatIndianpoliticianswere
not “hi-tech”enoughto resortto such
manipulation.
●A longelectioncycle,lastinga
fewmonths fromthedateof an-
nouncementto thedateof declara-
tion of results, typically creates
enoughtimefor the possibletamper-
ing of EVMs. The 2019 electioncycle
stretchedfromMarch10 to May23.
Given this inordinately extended
cycle,therushtofinishcounting
seemed unusual.Hence,theargu-
ment that wider EVM-VVPAT
matching would delay theresults
doesnotringtrue. Moreover, the
E.C.hastilyput up provisional voting
figureson its websiteto declarethe
winners,which it laterretracted.So,
were the results declared also
provisional?
TheE.C.defendsits EVMs as
uniqueandsecure.Butwhatis its
safeguardagainstmanipulation by
insiders? Banks, insurancecompan-
ies, examinations and printing
presses arenotimmune to insider
frauds. Whatis theguaranteethat
theelection processis securefrom
disgruntledengineersor lax security
guards?
Prof.PoorviVora,whoteaches
computer scienceat GeorgeWash-
ington University and has been
studying EVMsclosely,notesthat
theE.C.hasnotmadethedesign of
themachine public, whichmakesit
difficult to ascertainits vulnerabilit-
ies.ShetoldFrontline: “It is correct
thattheIndian EVMhasclosedoff
popular avenuesfor hacking thatfor-
eignmachines are vulnerable to.
However,electionintegrityexperts
sayelections should be evidence-
based.Instead of saying‘trustus, the
EVMis secure’,or ‘wefixedthe prob-
lemandthisis thenextgeneration
machine’, everytimethereis a seri-
ousallegationof an attack,theE.C.
shouldbe proving to the public,espe-
ciallyto thecroreswhosupported
losingcandidates,thattheelection
wascalledcorrectlyin a mannerthat
is transparentto the public.”BOTSWANA’SDOUBTS
Thecredibility of IndianEVMs is not
justa matterof controversyhere.
Therewasa political furorein Bot-
swanawhentherewasan attemptto
introduceEVMs in theelectiondue
in October2019.Withopposition
partiesobjectingvociferously, a del-
egationof the IndependentElectoral
Commission(IEC)fromthe African
nationvisitedthe E.C. to convinceit
to deposeas starwitnesses beforethe
FrancistownHigh Courton the mer-
its of usingEVMs.TheIEC delega-
tion further asked the E.C. to
dispatchfourorfive EVMsto Bot-
swanaandholda demonstration of
theEVMandtheVVPATsystemin
courtto dispeldoubtsoverthe cred-
ibilityof themachines. TheE.C.
failed to send its team for the
presentation.Finally,thelawto in-
troduce EVMs in Botswana was
withdrawn.
In 2017, Sunday Standard, a
newspaper in Botswana, reported
thatBELrepresentatives,whore-
fusedto reveal theirnames,carried
samples,insteadof actual EVMs, for
demonstration to the mediaandpo-
tentialhackersthere.Thesamples
werereportedlylabelled“Electoral
Commissionof Namibia”andthe
BEL representatives maintained
thattheycouldnotbe hackedbut
refusedto giveaccessto hackers at
the meet.
In 2010, a Hyderabad-basedtechnologist,HariPrasad,collabor-
atedwithAlexHalderman,a pro-
fessorof computer science at the
Universityof Michigan,andRop
Gonggrijp, a technology activist
fromHollandwhowasinstrumental
in having EVMs bannedin the
Netherlands.Theyproduceda pa-
pertitled“SecurityAnalysis of In-
dia’sElectronic VotingMachines”in
which they explainedwhy using
EVMsin Indiamighthaveseemed
likea good idea whenthe machines
wereintroduced in the1980sbut
“science’s understanding of elec-
tronicvotingsecurity—andof at-
tacks against it—has progressed
dramatically sincethen,andother
technologicallyadvancedcountries
haveadoptedandthenabandoned
EVM-stylevoting”.
CountriesliketheNetherlands,
IrelandandGermany, which experi-
mentedwithEVMs thatweresimilar
to theonesusedin India—nonnet-
worked—have since banned their
use.England,France andItalyhave
madeit clearthattheywillnotuse
EVMsfor voting.Paperballots con-
tinueto be the time-testedmethodof
votingin advancedcountriessuchas
the UnitedKingdom, Japan,Canada
andSingapore. Onlya handfulof
countriessuchas Estonia,Bhutan,
Nepal, Namibia, the Maldives,
JordanandBrazilapartfromIndia
useEVMs.
EVMs are increasingly being
seenas blackboxesthatlacktrans-
parencyandverifiability. Many ex-
pertsbelieve thatlikeall electronic
equipment,theyareproneto mal-
functionandtampering.However,
failuresas wellas frauds oftengo
undetectedandthelosers areleft
withno meansto challenge the
results.
In this context, the position
takenby SenatorKamalaHarris,one
of the contendersin the U.S.presid-
entialelection scheduled in 2020,is
pertinent.Sherecently tweeted that
paperballotswerethe smartestand
safestwayto ensure“yourvoteis
secureagainstattacksby foreignact-
ors.Russiacan’thacka pieceof paper
liketheycana computer.” Many
politicians andvotersin Indiawould
tendto agreewithher. $Whatis the
guaranteethat
theelection
processis secure
fromfoulplayby
disgruntled
engineersandlax
securityguards?