Should India ban electronic voting machines?

BANGALORE, INDIA: A recent study by a collaborative team from University of Michigan and NetIndia has raised questions about the security fallacies of the electronic voting machines (EVM). Despite the concerns, the Election Commission of India feels that the EVMs are here to stay.

The EC is unfazed by the allegation, and supports EVMs, because in the past, many political parties and groups had challenged it over such security and performance issues, but none of the allegations could prove the EC wrong.

Last year, Dr. Subramanian Swamy had challenged the the Commission, but the ruling went in its favor.

The Election Commission claimed that the team (from the University of Michigan and NetIndia) studying the electronic voting machines used a different model for their study and research.

Speaking to CIOL, K M Bahar, Under Secretary, Election Commission, informed that the department did not provide any machine to the research committee.

“We are aware of the allegation made by them (the team from University of Michigan and NetIndia). But this is important to understand that the equipment used by the team is not the original one, which is currently used by the EC during voting. We still posses the original machines and did not share it with the team,” he said.

Bahar further alleged that the research team used the spares of the machine and manipulated it, which produced these negative results.

Earlier, when Bharat Electronics Limited, the manufacturer of the electronic voting machines, was contacted, a spokesperson said that when the machine was introduced, an expert team from Indian Institute of Technology had similar questions over the performance of the products. But, eventually, they too could not find any flaw.

A few European countries like Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland have already banned the EVM and taking the example from this, a lot of social activists in USA and also India are urging the government to ban it.

The present machines used by the Election Commission was last updated in 2006 version. As of now, there are around 1.3 million machines being used during elections.

Last month, a team of Indian and international experts, including a team form the University of Michigan and NetIndia had revealed in their study that the electronic voting machines used by India's Election Commission are vulnerable and could be used to alter the voting results.

Hari Prasad, managing director of NetIndia, a Hyderabad-based technology firm, shared with the media that the study is based on a seven-month investigation.

He said, "Everywhere I looked there were more security problems. I am glad that with the presentation of this work, the debate over whether India's EVMs are secure is over. We need to look forward now. India deserves a transparent election process, which these machines simply cannot deliver."

The Commission shared a video of the possible attacks. In one such example it shared that a small part of the machine can be replaced with a look-alike component and used to tamper the voting results.

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