Election Commission of India by virtue of Article 324 of the Constitution of India is responsible to conduct Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and elections to the office of the President and Vice President of India in a free and fair manner and to secure the said purpose; secret ballot system or the Electronic Voting Machines are utilised. Prior to the advent of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs), secret ballot system was adopted during Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in India.
According to the secret ballot system the person casting his vote is handed over a ballot paper by the presiding officer of the polling booth so that the voter enters the voting compartment along-with the ballot paper and marks his stamp against the name or the symbol of the candidate whom he intends to vote. Nowadays EVMs with VVPATs attached are used in place of ballot papers and on the screen the name of the candidates along with the symbols assigned to them are displayed so that the voter can go inside the voting compartment and press the button against the candidate of his or her choice thereby maintaining complete secrecy.
Electronic Voting Machines system is a well developed and tested as there is an extremely stringent security protocol at manufacturer level as far as the security of the software is concerned. The design of EVMs used in India are one time programmable machines which are neither computer controlled nor connected to the internet or any network at any point of time and as such is protected against any sort of networked attacks. VVPAT provides feedback to voters as it is an independent verification printer machine attached to an EVM. The voters therefore can verify and check if their vote has gone to the intended candidate or not. However the controversy insisting on doing away with EVMS is refusing to die down and rumours with respect to hacking of EVMs have always created a doubt in the minds of the voters. EVMs are advantageous as the cost of printing ballot papers is dispensed with by the use of EVMs resulting in huge savings by way of cost of paper, printing, distribution, etc.
Counting is very quick compared to the conventional system of ballot papers and most significantly there will be no invalid votes under this system, reflecting to an extent more correctly the choice of the electorate. However, time and again Electronic Voting Machines system is challenged, but till date no challenger has succeeded in proving that EVMs can be hacked. Recently a petition was filed before the Hon’ ble Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of rule 49MA of the Conduct of Election Rules. Rule 49MA reads as “Where printer for paper trail is used, if an elector after having recorded his vote under rule 49M alleges that the paper slip generated by the printer has shown the name and symbol of a candidate other than the one he voted for, the presiding officer shall obtain a written declaration from the elector as to the allegation, after warning the elector about the consequences of making a false declaration.” The plea before the Honorable Supreme Court alleges infringement upon a citizen’s constitutional right to freedom of expression as onus cannot be placed upon the elector in cases of arbitrary deviant behaviour of machines used in two elections. The plea further alleges holding a voter accountable for it could deter the voter from filing a complaint which would again create an illusion of free and fair elections as no one in fear has come forward to lodge a complaint. However the Honourable Supreme Court while hearing the said plea after directing the petitioner to file a written note explaining reasons for claiming the provision as problematic, observed that a person making a false statement must know the consequences as it leads to stalling of electoral process and hence some riders have to be there otherwise the system will not work.
In my personal opinion any irregularity in the election process or any attempt made in tampering with the voting machines will defeat the intent of the electorate which in turn will certainly destroy the democratic structure envisaged and guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Since the country has become cashless and paperless, I fail to understand why questions are raised with respect to the use of EVMs in spite of the fact that the EVMs are manufactured by following extremely stringent and impeccable security protocol at manufacturer level. Being a citizen of the largest democracy in the world, I look forward to the Hon’ ble Supreme Court to consider all the aspects of the Electronic Voting Machines system so that in future no doubt is raised as regards the fairness and impartiality in the manner in which elections are conducted in the country as any qualms and suspicions raised would be a shame not only to the political party enjoying the mandate of the electorate but for the entire nation at the international level.
(This article is the personal opinion of the writer who is practising as an advocate at Mapusa)
