Page 2 - Evm Machine

SC rejects plea seeking 100% review of VVPAT-EVM verification verdict

The review petition filed by Arun Kumar Agarwal contended that there are mistakes and errors apparent in the April 26 judgment

Election Commission to conduct mock polls to check EVMs post LS polls

The EC received eight applications for verification of EVMs used in the 18th Lok Sabha elections and three for the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha

Like advanced democracies, paper ballots should be used: YSRCP Chief Jagan

YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday called for paper ballots to replace Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in elections. Following a humiliating electoral debacle in the recently held Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh, the former chief minister claimed that almost every advanced democracy uses paper ballots. "In electoral practices across the world in almost every advanced democracy, paper ballots are used, not EVMs," Reddy said in a post on 'X'. To uphold the true spirit of our (India) democracy, the Andhra Pradesh opposition leader opined that 'we too must move towards the same (postal ballots)'. "Just as justice should not only be served, but should also appear to have been served, so should democracy not only prevail but must appear to be prevalent undoubtedly," he added. YSRCP was relegated to just 11 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats in the recently concluded simultaneous elections in Andhra Pradesh. The NDA comprising TDP, BJP and Janasena won a lands

Ensure full transparency of EVMs or abolish them: Rahul Gandhi to EC

Raising questions on the reliability of EVMs, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked the Election Commission to ensure complete transparency of the machines and processes or abolish them. The demand came a day after the Congress leader had alleged that the electronic voting machine is a "black box" and nobody is allowed to scrutinise them while further alleging that serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. "When democratic institutions are captured, the only safeguard lies in electoral processes that are transparent to the public," Gandhi said in a post on X. "EVM is currently a black box. EC must either ensure complete transparency of the machines and processes or abolish them," the former Congress president also said. Another Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said, "Before treating the Electronic Voting Machines as infallible, the Election Commission of India should put out data on how many Electronic Voting Machines were found faulty ...

EC should invite Musk to attempt hacking EVMs, says Andhra BJP chief

BJP's Andhra Pradesh unit chief D Purandeswari on Monday appealed to the Election Commission to invite global technocrat and Tesla founder Elon Musk to come and attempt hacking Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Reacting to a social media post by Musk that EVMs should be eliminated as they can be hacked by humans or Artificial Intelligence (AI), Purandeswari made this plea to the poll panel. "According to Elon Musk, any EVM can be hacked. Request election commission to please invite him to India to attempt hacking our EVMs," she said in a post on X. According to the state BJP chief, despite "numerous opportunities provided by the Election Commission, no one has succeeded yet'. On June 15, Musk, a top global serial entrepreneur, called for the abolition of EVM in a post on the micro-blogging site X owned by him. "We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high," said Musk. However, this social media post by the

SC, EC need to take drastic decision on EVM irregularities, says AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday joined the political slugfest over the electronic voting machines (EVMs), saying the Supreme Court and the Election Commission need to take a drastic decision on the issue. AAP's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said that his party has been raising the incidents of irregularities related to the EVMs for long but were mocked by the BJP. Singh alleged that there were 80 Lok Sabha seats won by the BJP in the recent polls and claimed "if proper counting of votes on these seats happened, the current BJP government will collapse". These 80 seats are in Maharashtra, UP, Bihar and other states, he said. Citing the controversy related to EVM in North West Mumbai Lok Sabha seat, Singh said "The Supreme Court and the Election Commission should now take a strict decision over the EVM issue." A fresh political slugfest has erupted over EVM tampering claims with the Congress and other opposition leaders citing a media report that alleged that a relative of the Shi

Elon Musk sparks fresh debate on EVMs: How do e-voting machines work?

Reacting to alleged voting irregularities in Puerto Rico, Elon Musk's Saturday remark has fuelled Indian political debate on EVM

Political uproar over EVM 'unlocking'; Elon Musk joins debate. Key points

After claims that a relative of a Shiv Sena candidate used a phone to 'unlock' an EVM during vote counting, the poll body denied the allegations. Elon Musk's tweet on EVM hacking sparked a debate

'Huge sweeping generalisation': BJP counters Elon Musk over EVM remark

The BJP on Sunday accused billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk of making a "huge sweeping generalisation" by calling for eliminating EVMs, saying his views may apply to the US but not to India. In a recent post on X, Musk had said, "We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high." Countering the Tesla CEO's criticism of EVMs, BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. Elon Musk's view may apply to the US and other places - where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines." "But Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media - No connectivity, no bluetooth, wifi, Internet. ie there is no way in. Factory programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed," the former minister of state for information technology said on X. Chandrasekhar also

EVMs in India are 'black box', nobody allowed to scrutinise them: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said EVMs in India are a "black box" which nobody is allowed to scrutinise, and asserted that "serious concerns" are being raised about transparency in India's electoral process. "Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability," Gandhi said and tagged a media report which claimed that a relative of Shiv Sena's candidate, who won the polls from Mumbai's north west by 48 votes, had a phone that unlocks an EVM. The former Congress president also tagged the post on X by Elon Musk in which he talked about eliminating EVMs. "We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high," Musk had said in his post. The opposition parties have been raising concerns over EVMs for some time now and had demanded a 100 per cent count of the VVPAT slips which was not allowed.

IAF played vital role in LS polls, flew over 1,000 hours in 1,750 sorties

From extending the reach of the Election Commission into remote corners of the country to airlifting EVMs, the IAF played a vital role in the recently-held general elections, with its aircraft flying more than 1,000 hours in over 1,750 sorties. The Indian Air Force on Wednesday shared details about the helping hand it lent to the electoral machinery in the conduct of the Lok Sabha polls. "During the general elections 2024, the substantial flying effort has taken place over the last few months by medium-lift helicopters (Mi-17 variants), light utility helicopters (Chetak) and the indigenously manufactured advanced light helicopters (ALH Dhruv)," the IAF said in a statement. The force has been actively involved with the task of airlifting electronic voting machines (EVMs) and deploying Election Commission of India (ECI) personnel on election duties, as has been carried out during previous general or assembly elections, officials said. During the general elections 2024, the IAF played

Postal ballots: Why you shouldn't be swayed by early trends on counting day

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Here's is everything that you need to know about postal ballots, its eligibility criteria and the process of its application

Two-tier security for polled EVMs locked in strong rooms in Delhi: CEO

The Delhi poll body on Monday said it has implemented two-tier security arrangements for the polled EVMs and VVPATs stored in the strong rooms of the seven parliamentary constituencies. Polling for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was conducted across all seven parliamentary constituencies in the capital on May 25. The counting of votes will take place on June 4. The office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said it has deployed a two-tier security around the clock at strong rooms with the innermost perimeter guarded by the Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs) and the outermost perimeter by the state armed police in accordance with the ECI safety protocols. A 24x7 CCTV camera coverage of the sealed doors of the strong rooms and corridors with continuous monitoring has been made with single entry/exit point to the strong rooms and double lock system, it said in a statement. Mandatory videography during the opening and closing of the strong rooms and maintenance of a logbook for .

LS polls: BJP candidate arrested for allegedly vandalising EVM in Odisha

A BJP candidate was arrested in Odisha's Khurda district for allegedly vandalising an EVM as he had to wait in queue for a long to cast his vote because the machine malfunctioned, officials said on Sunday. Prashant Jagdev, the BJP MLA of Chilika, has been fielded this time from the Khurda assembly segment. The incident happened on Saturday at booth 114 in Bolagad block's Kaunripatna in the Begunia assembly segment where he is registered as a voter. Jagdev went to the booth along with his wife, but as the EVM malfunctioned, he had to wait for some time to cast his vote. Soon, a war of words broke out between him and the presiding officer, amid which he allegedly pulled the EVM from the table, as a result of which it fell and broke, officials said. Superintendent of Police Avinash Kumar said the MLA was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by the presiding officer. A court later sent him to judicial custody, and at present, he is lodged at the Khurda jail, officials said. Bes

LS polls: 45,576 EVMs at 20,031 polling stations in Haryana, says officer

A total of 45,576 EVMs will be used in the state for the Lok Sabha elections and the by-election of Karnal Assembly constituency, Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Agarwal said on Wednesday. Agarwal said 24,039 control units and 26,040 VVPAT machines will be used at 20,031 polling stations for the elections. Among the polling stations set up, 19,812 are permanent and 219 are auxiliary stations, he said. There are 99 polling stations which will be operated entirely by women staff and 71 polling stations will be manned by Person with Disability (PwD) employees, he said. There are 5,470 polling stations in urban areas and 14,342 polling stations have been set up in rural areas, he said. Voting for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana and bypoll for Karnal assembly seat will be held on May 25 in the sixth phase of general elections. Polling will be held from 7 am to 6 pm. The state CEO said that 176 model polling stations have also been established. In view of the prevailing severe hea

NCP (SP) candidate claims security breach in EVMs godown in Ahmednagar

NCP (SP) candidate from Maharashtra's Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat, Nilesh Lanke, on Wednesday claimed a person breached the three-tier security and tried to reach a godown where the EVMs were kept after polling in the constituency. Lanke posted on X a CCTV grab while claiming the person tried tamper the close-circuit camera and reach the godown. The Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader raised questions over the security deployed there. "A person easily breached the three-tier security around one of the godowns where EVMs are stored. He tried to tamper the CCTV cameras, but my colleagues intervened in time," he claimed in the post on X. "If my colleagues can catch the person, I wonder how the three-tier security system could not stop the unidentified person. Does it mean the system itself is biased and trying to steal democracy? It looks like the administration is being a mere spectator," he alleged. Lanke was pitted against BJP's Sujay Vikhe Patil in the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha ...

Should there be polling even if there is only one candidate in the fray?

Should NOTA be considered a candidate?

Supreme Court rejects all pleas seeking 100% EVM-VVPAT verification

The top court was hearing petitions seeking a complete verification of VVPATs generated by EVMs during the elections

After EC's reply to SC queries, verdict on EVM-VVPAT case likely today

In the last hearing, the Supreme Court panned EVM criticism and the calls for a return to ballot papers, saying that efforts should not be made to undermine the electoral process

Can't control polls or pass directions on basis of suspicion, SC on EVM

The Supreme Court said on Wednesday it cannot "control the elections" or issue directions simply because doubts have been raised about the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), as it reserved its judgement on a clutch of petitions claiming the polling devices can be tinkered with to manipulate the results. The court said it cannot change the thought process of those doubting the advantages of polling machines and advocating going back to ballot papers. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta reserved its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using EVMs with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), after taking note of the answers to queries it had posed to the Election Commission. It sought answers from an official of the poll panel to five questions related to the functioning of EVMs including whether the microcontrollers fitted in them are reprogrammable. Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Nitesh Kumar Vyas, who had