GVL Narasimha Rao - Indian EVM

1 GVL Narasimha RaoDemocracy at Risk!Can we trust our Electronic Voting Machines?Copyright @ GVL Narasimha Rao 2010 All rights reservedPublished in 2010 byCitizens for Verifiability,Transparency & Accountabilityin ElectionsB4/ 137, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi 110 91 9873300800 (Sagar Baria)Printed in India by:Sharp Prints, G-5, Red Rose Building,49-50 Nehru Place, New Delhi-110019 Email: to the Citizens of India:They deserve a fully transparent andverifiable electoral systemContentsForeword by Shri AdvaniMessage from Shri N. Chandrababu NaiduMessage from Prof. David L. Dill, Stanford UniversityAcknowledgmentsIntroduction11 The India EVM Story72 The Big Lie193 Questionable Decisions of Election Commission314 Faulty Machines Cause Tampering Concerns415 Electronic Fixers Demand Hefty Sums576 The X Factor657 Vote of No Confidence838 Farce of Enquiry by Election Commission979 Commission Blocks Ethical Hacking11110 Voting Machines Demystified12311 Software Isn't is Hardware14713 Weak Links in the Chain15914 Hacking EVMs, Hijacking the Mandate17315 Are Indian EVMs Constitutional?

2 17916 Restore Transparency & Verifiability187 AnnexuresList of Annexures1.'Resolution on Electronic Voting,' Verified VotingFoundation2.'Use of Electronic Voting MachinesUnconstitutional' Judgment of FederalConstitutional Court of Germany (PressRelease)3.'We Do Not Trust Machines' (Article inNewsweek)4.'How To Trust Electronic Voting' (Editorial in NewYork Times)5.'The Good News (Really) About VotingMachines' (Article in New York Times)6.'A Single Person could Swing an Election'(Article in Washington Post) Petition of Congress candidate AlokJena in Orissa High Court (Extracts) petition of Subramanian Swamy in DelhiHigh Court (Extracts)195197203206208213215221 ForewordIn many democracies of the world the issue of electronic votingmachines has become a matter of wide-spread publicdiscussion.

3 In India we have been conducting our electionsthrough this device for the last two Lok Sabha elections andalso in various Assembly elections held recently. But as yetthere has been little debate on how useful these machines haveproved. So when the author of this book Narasimha Raoapproached me and requested me to write its Foreword, I notonly accepted his plea, but complimented him for his efforts tocompile all the facts he could on the subject and initiate adebate. The title of the book is certainly Reforms has been my favourite subject of study sincethe mid sixties. When I was elected to Rajya Sabha in 1970, Idiscussed the matter with Shri Vajpayee who was at that timea member of Lok Sabha.

4 He agreed to raise the issue in theLower House, and try to have a JPC set up to study thequestion. Those days the issue of defections, abuse ofgovernmental power in polls and growing misuse of moneypower in elections were three evils causing concern to everyoneconcerned with the health of Indian democracy. It was at theinitiative of Shri Vajpayee that in 1970 a Joint ParliamentaryCommittee for electoral Reforms was set up. Both he as wellas I served on this Committee. This Committee proved shortlived because the Lok Sabha was dissolved in the 1971 general elections, Shri Vajpayee raised the issueonce again and saw to it that a new JPC was constituted.

5 ThisCommittee which gave its report in 1972 made severalimportant recommendations some of which were accepted. Theinitiative taken by Vajpayee did not end there. Since then,several other committees have been formed, all aimed atreforming the poll process. My party has been proactivelycooperating with all such efforts - be it the Tarkunde Committee(1974) or the Dinesh Goswami Committee (1990) or the IndrajitGupta Committee (1998). The NDA Government headed by ShriVajpayee also took several initiatives. But I must admit thatthe phenomenal increase in the cost of elections and increasingcorruption that is being witnessed is extremely worrisome.

6 (i)I understand that some time next month the ElectionCommission proposes to convene a meeting of political partiesto discuss various issues relating to poll reforms. I have hadoccasion to speak to the Chief Election Commissioner myselfand draw his attention to the evil of 'paid news', a form of mediacorruption which has besmirched recent elections. I understandthat this issue is going to be discussed at this meeting. I suggestthat the question of EVM also be taken personally regard it significant that Germany, technologically,one of the most advanced countries of the world, has becomeso wary of EVMs as to ban their use altogether. Many statesin USA have mandated that EVMs can be used only if they havea paper back-up.

7 So manufacturers of electronic votingmachines in USA have developed a technology referred to asVoter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). Every voter whoexercises his vote on the EVM gets a print out in a ballot boxso that if there is any discrepancy in the machine either becauseof mal-functioning or because of mischief the paper ballots canbe 32 out of 50 states in the USA have passed laws makingthese VVPAT voting machines compulsory. The Congresshas pending before it a federal law similar to that of the Statelaws. I think the Election Commission would be strengtheningdemocracy if it contemplates similar legislation by the IndianParliament 26, 2010 Advani(ii)MessageThere is an on-going debate in the country on the efficacy ofEVMs in recording of votes according to the wish of the voterconcerned.

8 A leading non-governmental organization, JanaChaitanya Vedika has demonstrated before the press thevulnerability of these machines. Sri Omesh Saigal, a formerSecretary to the Government of India, has also complained thatit is "possible and plausible" to manipulate EVMs to obtain aperverse standard defence put forward by the Election Commissionof India is that the EVMs are manufactured and supplied bythe leading public sector undertakings and they were introducedafter a series of field trials and expert checks. However, the factsdo not support the confidence expressed by the ElectionCommission. The experts highlight several lacunae which giverise to doubts about the integrity of the is the essence of the election process, and one cannotignore the fact that technologically advanced countries likeGermany, Ireland, Netherlands and the are eitherbanning or prescribing stringent conditions for the usage ofEVMs for registering the public feel that it is incumbent on the Election Commission of Indiato address the concerns of the public seriously and to take stepsto ensure that EVMs are used in future only with wish to congratulate GVL Narasimha Rao, whom I have knownfor many years.

9 For the immense effort he has put in to bringout this important book. It presents a very comprehensiveanalysis of all the issues concerning EVMs, backed up by factsand the views of Indian and international experts. I do hopethat the book opens up the issue for a national debate, andthat we may soon have a reformed voting system in which ourcitizens can repose 1, 2010(N. Chadrababu Naidu)(iii) MessageProf. David L. DillStanford UniversityAn important function of elections is to establish thelegitimacy of the elected officials in the eyes of the , untrusting observers should be able to see thatelection results are accurate. It is not sufficient for electionresults to be accurate; the public must know that the resultsare accurate.

10 Civil society is damaged if elections are notcredible, even in the absence of demonstrable traditional elections, paper ballots contribute to electioncredibility because voters can ensure that their votes have beenproperly recorded (when they write them on the ballot), and pollworkers and observers at the polling place can ensure thatballots are not changed, added or removed after being depositedin the ballot contrast, purely electronic voting machines do not allowvoters to verify that their votes have been accurately recorded,and do not allow observers to witness that the ballots have notbeen tampered with. Electronic voting machines provide noevidence during or after the election to convince a skeptic thatthe election results are is not clear that this situation would be acceptable even ifelectronic voting machines could be guaranteed to be accurateand honest.