Editorial: Doubts over EVMs must end

It is a regressive idea to revert to the ballot paper system when EVMs have proved their trustworthiness

With the general elections round the corner, the debate on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) has once again come to the fore, much of it reflecting concerns over the transparency of the voting system. While the Election Commission must do everything possible to convince the political parties, voters and civil society about the efficacy of the voting machines, it is also important to put an end to conspiracy theories surrounding the EVMs. It has been proved beyond any doubt that the voting machines are robust, reliable and tamper-proof. The EVMs have met all the criteria— technological, legal, legislative and regulatory— and proved time and again that they are incorruptible. However, the demand for expanding the VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) slip facility is justified as it will assure the voter that his or her vote had been properly recorded. The paper trail was introduced by the poll panel in 2013 precisely for the purpose of dispelling apprehensions about functioning of EVMs. The deployment of improved VVPAT machines will help curb glitches in the coming general elections. The allegation that EVMs can be hacked by Bluetooth or wi-fi is mischievous and misleading. EVMs do not have such networking devices installed in them. Moreover, the machines are allotted to constituencies and polling stations in a random manner which would make their tampering virtually impossible. However, some doubting Thomases are still not satisfied and are rooting for going back to the ballot paper system in the name of confidence-building. It is a regressive idea to revert to the ballot paper system when the EVMs have proved their trustworthiness over decades and helped in preventing electoral malpractices like rigging and booth capturing.

Political parties must desist from casting aspersions on the technology-driven, fool-proof process that has earned laurels for the country. A deliberately misleading campaign against the voting machines, if allowed to spread, can have a detrimental impact on democracy in the long run and erode public faith in the electoral process. The unsavoury controversies should not eclipse all the good work done by a dedicated army of poll officials and workers. It is true that some voting machines malfunction on the polling day due to a variety of technical reasons but they cannot be manipulated. It would be outrageous to claim that the entire poll machinery conspires to manipulate the outcome in favour of a particular party. It is time the political parties realised the dangers of dragging the time-tested electoral processes into partisan politics and trashing the voting machines, disregarding their proven track record since their introduction over three-and-half decades ago. At least five high courts had concluded in the past that EVMs are credible and totally tamperproof. The use of EVMs has been one of the stellar success stories of India’s mature democracy and an independent Election Commission.

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