Indian electronic voting machine scandal is forewarning for ECP

ISLAMABAD: The scandal of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) system hounding the recent Indian elections is a timely forewarning for the Election Commission of Pakistan to desist from a complete switchover from the existing paper ballot system to the desired EVM. 

Official sources in the ECP told The News that although the commission was already not in favour of complete switchover, the reports coming from India have furthered their concerns. In their internal meetings, there is a consensus within the ECP that Pakistan should initially restrict itself to pilot projects under the EVM system.

While different political parties, particularly the PTI, demand that the entire 2018 elections should be held under the EVM system, voices coming out of India make the system doubtful. Indian media reports showed that EVM had raised many questions during a mandatory mock poll in Jorhat when every time a button was pressed, the vote went in favour of BJP.

Indian Supreme Court has already taken up the matter of alleged tampering of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM’s) during the recent Assembly Elections in five states. Media reports suggest that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati dismissed the Uttar Pradesh assembly election results as murder of democracy and said EVM tampering was responsible for her party’s poor showing.

“Either the EVMs did not accept votes other than BJP, or the votes of other parties have gone to BJP in the EVMs,” news agency ANI quoted the Dalit leader as saying. “Polling should be held afresh under the old system in which voters were given ballot papers to cast their vote. Even in USA ballot papers are used in elections after technical fault was detected in EVMs,” she said. She also wrote to the Indian election commission to cancel the election results.

Another report quoted Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee having said, "There are countries whose technology are far more advanced than ours but they are not using Electronic Voting Machines. For example France and United Kingdom never used EVM. In Germany and Netherland, the EVM machine has been banned. Italy also starting using EVM but eventually dropped it."

President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter further asserted that since the matter was about elections, there was no harm in demanding ballots for elections. Resonating similar views, Congress leader K C Mittal questioned the "compulsion" of "using EVMs in the wake of the ongoing allegations of EVMs tampered in a demonstration exercise in Madhya Pradesh.

Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India and demanded thorough inspection of all EVMs in just not Jorhat, but the entire state. Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Ranjan Bora, who had lodged the complaint with EC, said, "The mock poll was done at random and the EVM for Teok assembly constituency took everyone by surprise. When the hand symbol button was pressed for Congress, the vote was found to be recorded in favour of BJP."

Besides Congress and others, even Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Keriwal also met Election Commissioner to discuss the EVM tampering issue. "We have been saying that the EVMs were tampered. Are the elections in this nation being conducted fairly? Are people casting their votes or machines itself deciding it?" Kejriwal said addressing media after meeting Election Commission.

He further alleged that the software in the machines was changed, so that when the voters press any button it will only lead to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Calling for tamper-free elections, Kejriwal said that machines have not been checked which raises a big question mark on democracy.

Defying Election Commission’s claim that machines cannot be tampered, he said they are being tampered at a large scale. Another report suggest that though the campaign for the April 9 Assembly bypolls in Madhya Pradesh remained politically less intense, there has been much heat over EVMs after a voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machine reportedly dispensed slips of only the BJP symbol during a trial.

Contrary to claims by Indian election authorities, the reports say that these paperless electronic voting systems suffer from significant vulnerabilities. Even brief access to the machines could allow dishonest election insiders or other criminals to alter election results.