Role of the EVM machines in Indian Elections- A technology that needs to be ascertained

Often, it comes in mind if the EVM machines can be hacked? How it can be possible? It’s a machine thing so manipulation isn’t possible? In the days of elections in India, people get worried about this and seem it as a loss of their vote.

Talking about India's electoral history, before the EVM era, elections at different levels across the country have been affected by incidents like attacks, mistreating ballot boxes, and anti-social elements working for political parties.

But with the advent of the new century, such incidents have happened in the past after the use of EVMs began in elections.

However, the authenticity of these machines has been questioned from time to time. Often, election-losing parties raise questions that these machines can be hacked.

US hacker claims

Some days back, a press conference in London was held by self-proclaimed cyber expert Syed Suja revealed that EVMs can be hacked. In 2014 general elections EVMs were hacked to give the mandate to a political party. In his chemistry, he claimed that EVMs can be hacked by a low-frequency signal. But then nothing was established faithful.

However, the Election Commission of India has denied these claims. But there are apprehensions about the use of technology in these machines.

At least seven cases are going on in different courts in India on the issue. But the Election Commission has been telling these machines to be hacking proof on every occasion.

16 lakh EVMs are used in India's elections and a maximum of 2000 votes are cast in each such machine.

The number of registered voters at any polling station is 1500 and the number of candidates does not exceed 64. These machines made in India run with batteries.

These machines can also run in areas where electricity is not available. The software of these machines was created by designers associated with a government company.

As per the Election Commission, these machines and records recorded therein are not shared with any outside group.

How these machines work

Voters have to press a button to vote. The polling officer can also turn off the machine by pressing a button to prevent forced votes in case the polling station is attacked.

A wax layer is mounted on a machine that has voting records. At the same time, it has a chip and serial number coming from the Election Commission.

The machine has been used in 113 assembly elections so far. Using these machines, counting takes place very quickly.

The votes cast for a Lok Sabha seat can be counted in just three to five hours, while the same work takes 40 hours in the ballot paper era.

At the same time, the machine separates the fake votes, thereby reducing the time and expenditure incurred in counting such votes.

Research on the subject has revealed that the use of voting machines has reduced electoral scams and human mistakes that have benefited democracy.

Scholars Shishir Debanth, Mudit Kapoor and Shamika Ravi had presented a research paper on the impact of voting machines by researching the data related to the assembly elections in 2017.

During their research, the researchers found that the use of voting machines has led to a reduction in electoral disturbances that has helped the poor to vote freely and the elections have been more competitive.

The researchers also revealed that the vote share of outgoing electoral parties has also decreased due to e-voting.

Is hacking possible?

The Election Commission has been claiming that electronic voting machines are completely safe. But there have been fears of these machines being hacked from time to time.

Eight years ago, scientists at the University of Michigan, U.S.A., connected a device to a machine to show that the machine's results could be changed by sending messages from a mobile.

However, India’s official institutions had dismissed the claim that it was difficult to get the machines tempered.

Dhiraj Sinha, an expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, admits that millions of voting machines will require a lot of money to hack, and to do so, it is necessary to involve machine manufacturers and election-making institutions. This will require a very small reviser circuit and an antenna to be connected with a machine that 'won't be visible with the human eye.'

He says that the machine must have a radio receiver to do wireless hacking which contains an electronic circuit and antenna.

The Election Commission claims that there are no such circuit entitlements in Indian voting machines. In fewer terms, hacking on such a wide scale would be almost impossible.

EVMs around the World

About 33 countries in the world somehow adopt the process of electronic voting and have questioned the authenticity of those machines.

The total number of votes cast in Venezuela in the 2017 elections reportedly rose to one million more than the real number. However, the government denies it.

Argentine politicians have taken the edge off the plan to conduct e-voting this year, expressing apprehensions about the secrecy and outcome of votes.

In Iraq, the partial counting of votes was re-counted after reports of electronic voting machines being disturbed following the 2018 elections.

E-voting machines were the subject of controversy after reports of non-testing of machines before e-voting in the Democratic Republic of Congo in December last year.

Voting machines were used in the United States about 15 years ago.

About 35,000 machines are currently used in the United States. Thus, there were growing concerns about the lack of paper proof in voting.

In these elections, counting machines found a program that allowed the system administrator to turn into a machine.

Duncan Buel, a professor of computer science at the University of South Carolina, is researching the same topic.

Technology and Democracy

Duncan Buel said in an interview with the BBC: "I believe we should minimize the use of technology in the electoral process. The software should work properly, it is difficult, and that too when there is no relationship between votes and voters. There is no proper way to confirm that these things work as expected."

In spite of all this, India is probably working in the right direction to make elections transparent and reliable.

Five years ago, the Supreme Court had ordered that all voting machines should also have VVPAT machines (machine printing voting receipts).

When a voter casts his vote when these machines are fitted, a receipt emerges from the printing machine as soon as the vote is recorded, with a serial number, candidate name and an election mark.

This information is available for seven seconds on a transparent screen. However, after seven seconds, the receipt slips into a sealed compartment.

The Election Commission has decided that the results received from the machine in the assembly elections will be matched with the results drawn based on polling receipts of five percent of the total polling stations.

Because, with the help of voting receipts, the assessment of the poll results will be economically and timely.

Researchers have offered to conduct risk-reducing audits on the issue to give credibility to the outcome of the Indian elections.

Currently, former Election Commission chief S.Y. Qurashi admits that voting receipts should end the apprehensions of voters and electoral parties.

Vvpat machines have been used in all assembly elections since 2015. The poll results of receipts from 1500 machines were matched with the poll results from the machines.

"There has not been a single chance in these elections when the difference in results has been found," explains S.Y. Qurashi.