Author: Manjeet Kripalani in Bombay
Publication: Businessweek
Date: April 19, 2004
URL: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_16/b3879074.htm
India's new electronic system --
built on $200 machines -- could curb fraud and build faith in the process
India prides itself on being the
world's largest democracy. But its elections typically have been raucous
affairs, with hundreds killed in fights between rival political parties
and chronic allegations of ballot-box stuffing. One common practice in
the past was the hijacking of entire polling stations by thugs who stuffed
ballot boxes with additional bogus votes of their favorite candidate.
That's all about to change. The
weapon: a suitcase-size plastic box. The box holds a battery-operated electronic
voting machine, 1 million of which will be in use when India's 680 million
eligible voters head for the polls for national elections between Apr.
20 and May 10. Surya Krishnamurty, for one, is pleased with the new system.
He is deputy chief electoral officer for the western state of Maharashtra,
which encompasses Bombay, and his job is to make sure the vote goes smoothly.
"Nothing can go wrong with these machines," he says, proudly slapping the
one sitting on his desk. "If the machines are hijacked at gunpoint, the
polling booth immediately gets a spare machine, and there's a repoll."
The machines, now being deployed
from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, are already winning kudos from Indian public
interest groups for their simplicity and ease of use. They will also save
time and cut costs. Indeed, the Election Commission hopes the machines
will increase voter turnout from 60% to 70%. Each machine has a keyboard
on which voters simply push the button adjacent to the name and symbol
of the candidate of their choice. With a beep, votes are recorded on a
chip in the control unit. In tests using the machines in local elections,
voters loved them. "They see it as a sign of development," says Sanjay
Kumar, an associate fellow at the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study
of Developing Societies.
FOILING HACKERS. Some experts in
the U.S. question how tamper- proof electronic-voting systems are. But
the manufacturers -- Bharat Electronics Ltd. in Bangalore and Electronic
Corp. of India in Hyderabad, two state-owned companies -- claim their product
is secure. The data can be decoded and printed out only by a court order.
Instead of being linked to other computers through a network, the machine
is an autonomous device with software embedded in a microprocessor that
cannot be reprogrammed, says R. Jagannathan, general manager of Bharat
Electronics. "It provides no leverage for hackers."
The Election Commission likes the
machines' efficiency. They represent a one- off cost of $200 million, but
they will save the government up to 10,000 tons of ballot paper in every
national election. A single machine can record 3,840 votes, vs. only 600
per ballot box. Better still, the commission expects to declare the results
in 24 hours, compared with the customary wait of three days.
But the transparency of the electronic
voting system could work to its disadvantage unless officials like Krishnamurty
keep a watchful eye. The machines will show exactly how each village and
district voted -- as they did in a local election in Gujarat in December,
2002. Men armed with sticks later swept into one small town and attacked
residents for voting against their candidate.
Yet if all goes well, Bharat Electronics
and Electronic Corp. could find other markets for their product. The companies
have already received inquiries from Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and Singapore.
And who knows who else might be interested? In some parts of Britain paper
ballots are still being used. And over in the U.S., elec- tronic voting
machines would sure solve the problem of those hanging chads.
