Why India won't discard EVMs anytime soon

Electronic voting machines have cut the number of rejected votes, but their history is controversial

In 2004, a scientist working at Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the government company that manufactures Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) was called as a witness in the Karnataka High Court. The scientist, who was also the co-designer of the machine, appeared as a witness for the Election Commission of India (ECI) which was defending itself in a case filed by Micheal Fernandes, the brother of Samata Manch leader George Fernandes. Fernandes had challenged the efficacy and integrity of the EVMs in court after he lost from Yelahanka in the 1999 general elections.

The scientist was asked to explain the possibility of breaches in EVMs. He told the court that there was no possibility of transfer of votes from one candidate to another either by manipulation or by accident.

A part of his testimony was as follows: The control unit has two main devices - one is microcontroller and another is memory. Microcontroller is one-time programmable component. Microcontroller once fused with program code and data is unchangeable and irreversible. The memory device is functionally efficient and retains the voting data without the aid of a battery. The microcontroller will record and register the voting data by cross-checking with the memory for every vote. The programme code is encrypted and stored in the memory. It is not possible to replace the memory device in order to play mischief. If the memory device is removed, microcontroller will detect and declare that the machine is in error state. The memory device and one-time programmable microcontroller are the pivotal devices of the EVM and they act as tamper-proof device for the programme code and poll data.

The scientist who was cross-examined by the prosecution further stated: The encrypted code and data is unchangeable and indelible by anybody, even by the manufacturer. Any attempt to tamper with the encrypted code would only result in damage to the machine. But the microcontroller and memory cannot be manipulated by anybody.

The court was satisfied with the scientist’s testimony and observed “the evidence fully inspires the confidence of the court that the EVMs are fully tampered proof. There is no possibility of manipulation or mischief at the instance of anyone.”

More than a decade on and several other such cases in court, questions have again been raised over the integrity of EVMs after the BJP’s resounding win in the Uttar Pradesh (UP) elections. The allegations made by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) matriarch Mayawati and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal are of a similar nature raised by Fernandes more than a decade ago. Both politicians have alleged that the EVMs are registering votes in the BJP candidate’s favour even though the voter has cast his vote for someone else. They have demanded for a return to the paper ballot system. What is curious is that Kejriwal and Mayawati have been silent on what their agents communicated to them on the functioning of the EVMs before the polls. As per an operating procedure, a mock poll is conducted on the EVMs an hour before actual voting begins. The candidates or their agents are asked to press a button to cast their vote. Once the votes are polled, the results button on the EVM is pressed which shows the total number of votes cast. Those questioning the EVMs haven’t yet made it clear of any of the agents or candidates flagged issues regarding incorrect registering of votes in the mock poll.   

While the ECI has defended itself and dismissed these allegations as baseless, the use of EVMs seems to have reduced the number of rejected votes over the years.

In 1991, when the BJP got its first shot at power in Uttar Pradesh (UP) for a year and a half with Kalyan Singh at the helm, EVMs weren’t in vogue in India. More than 4 out of every 100 votes polled in the state were rejected. UP was seeing a rise in rejected votes, then cast through paper ballots. In 1977, the post-emergency election in the state that brought the Janata Party to power, less than 2 votes out of every 100 were rejected in the state.

When EVMs were used for the first time in UP in 2002, the number of rejected votes fell to a negligible figure of 0.01%. Over the next two assembly elections in UP, the proportion of rejected votes stood around the same mark. From the look of it, EVMs have been able to reduce errors and make more votes count. They haven’t ensured an error-free election, but have significantly increased the number of valid votes that decide a party and the candidates’ fate. There are still thousands of votes that cannot be retrieved from EVMs every election. In the 2014 general elections more than 74000 votes (or around 0.02% of the valid votes) couldn’t be retrieved from EVMs. Three states – West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Odisha- accounted for a third of all votes that the EVM’s failed to register.

EVMs have also led to a drastic reduction in the instances of booth rigging, a notorious practice under the paper ballot system. EVMs which were first developed by BEL’s scientists, to conduct trade union elections made the ECI curious. The ECI approached BEL for making a similar instrument for it to conduct general elections. BEL’s scientists went to the drawing board and designed a product first deployed by the ECI in certain polling booths for a by-election in Kerala in 1982. The election was overturned in the Supreme Court. 

Despite the legal challenges, ECI hasn’t lost enthusiasm over the years on the deployment of these controversial machines. EVMs are now used to conduct virtually every election in India by the ECI. Infact the ECI has been continuously seeking to upgrade EVMs. On December 30, 2016, the ECI issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) for research and development (R&D) proposals for improving EVMs. The ECI had set aside a corpus of Rs 25 crore on R&D for 2016-17. In the tender, the ECI listed a few additional features it was keen to incorporate in the EVMs. Among them included machines with cameras to photograph the voter and reducing the weight of machines. The ECI had introduced the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in 2013 after which it was used in subsequent general and state elections.

The ECI used such paper trails in 30 constituencies in UP. AAP is reported to have pressed for verifying the paper trails with votes in Punjab. Such discrepancies are reported by voters but ECI hasn’t yet made it clear how many voters allege a different symbol on the paper trail than the button they pressed on the EVM. Voters who point this out have to fill up a declaration to register the allegation. A test vote is conducted and voting on the machine stopped if the voter is proved right. That ECI could put to rest the charges against EVMs by shedding light on test votes conducted during the polls and their results. 

The ECI’s constant upgradation of EVMs has meant good business for BEL. In December 2016, the Modi cabinet cleared a proposal to replace EVMs bought between 2000-2005. The cabinet approved the procurement of 9.5 lakh EVMs in 2016-17 and 2017-18 from BEL and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) in a contract worth almost Rs 1010 crore. These EVMs would be used in the 2019 general assembly elections. With the ECI keen on innovation in EVMs and the government approving big orders from BEL, a return to the paper ballot may not be something hovering on the horizon.