Friends, there was an exchange
recently about the EVMs. The following is of interest and relevance
(a similar letter went from the EC to the Indian Express)
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MOST IMMEDIATE
BY FAX / BY SPECIAL MESSENGER
ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA
Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New
Delhi - 110 001
No. 491/Misc./2004/MCPS
Dated: May 14, 2004
To
The Editor,
Hindustan Times,
Hindustan Times Building,
18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg,
New Delhi-110001.
Sir,
Ravi Visvesvaraya Prasad wrote on
the EVM in the Hindustan Times issue of 5 May 2004. He had also later written
in Indian Express issue of 26 April, 2004. He has raised various doubts
about the fidelity and reliability of the EVMs. He referred to two villages
of Andhra Pradesh where in the first day of poll on 20 April, 2004 some
voters had complained that while they pressed the button for the Congress,
the light against the TDP glowed and where, therefore, the polling was
stopped and the machines were replaced. While it is not possible
to take out these 'offending' machines at this juncture to find out the
truth in the allegation because the election process is not complete as
yet, it is possible, however to comment on this issue. It is noteworthy
that the complaint came only from two polling stations in respect of one
machine each. There was no similar complaint from any other place which
went to poll on that day either in Andhra Pradesh or anywhere else in the
country. There were no such complaints on the second day of polling in
Andhra Pradesh. A similar 'claim' was half-heartedly spread in Bihar that
on pressing the button for RJD, the button against BJP candidate glowed.
But in Bihar unlike in Andhra Pradesh, there was no specific complaint
concerning any polling station. It is noteworthy that on that day such
a complaint did not arise from any other polling station across the country
where polling had taken place. As a technologist Mr. Prasad
should know that algorithm and software is not written for 2 machines.
And if there had been such a problem of faulty logic or incorrect algorithm
etc. the same complaint should have come from all across the country and
in any case, at the minimum, from all places where machines manufactured
in that batch were employed.
Mr. Prasad says that the machines
could contain the following flaws:
* Faulty logic;
* Incorrect algorithms;
* Erroneous data flows;
* Errors in circuit design;
* Mistake in the software code;
* Mistake, malicious trapdoors in
the code and so on.
In order to eliminate such possibilities
what Mr. Prasad wants are the circuit algorithms, schematics, source code
and test vectors etc. As a technologist surely Mr. Prasad would know that
for a scrutiny to ensure that the machine functions correctly, instead
of seeking all that information the person raising doubt could himself
provide the set of test vectors stipulating the input and the expected
output for correct functionality and also another set of such test vectors
establishing his apprehended incorrect functionality that would vitiate
the polling namely vote against wrong candidate, non-registering of votes
etc. He would need the circuit schematic, source code etc. only if
there was indeed an acknowledged defect and only if he were called upon
to debug the system!
Shri Prasad lists out all that he
can do with the software of the machines: write software Modules
which would pass all trials and still manipulate the result of an actual
voting; succeed in assigning 70% of all votes to a select candidate
and thus making the chosen candidate win etc. etc. While the software writing
capabilities of the Indians have received high praise all over the world,
what Mr. Prasad has claimed is still stretching credibility to the breaking
point. By implication Mr. Prasad would like us to believe that all that
BEL or ECIL who are manufacturers of the machines for the Election Commission
of India and all their R & D engineers are interested is to ensure
that the same party or some chosen candidates win especially despite the
fact that there are 543 constituencies with a different set of candidates
contesting in each one of them!
It is necessary to mention here
that in the scheme adopted by us the position of the candidate and therefore
the location of the button to be pressed to cast a vote in his favour is
decided not on the basis of the name of his party but is decided on the
basis of where his name figures in the list of contesting candidates arranged
in the alphabetical order. The software writer should be so exceptionally
brilliant as to be able to define this in the software code he writes and
arrange to have all the votes credited to one or the other party he fancies.
Further he has to do it long before even the list of contesting candidates
is known as the manufacturers send the machines to the States and districts
even before the nominations are opened. Even if he is not inclined in favour
of any party or parties, then Mr. Prasad would have us believe, that the
Software Engineers of the two companies would merely do this to prove a
point about their (destructive) capability!
Mr. Prasad lists various methods
by which after the poll EVMs could be interfered with like erasing the
memory using a electromagnetic pulse generator, sending signals from remote
terminals etc. Mr. Prasad would like us to believe that the country is
crawling with 'mad' engineers and technologists whose only goal in life
is to destroy the memory of all the EVMs all over the place after the poll
and create a chaos!
The EC had the machines scrutinized
and evaluated by an expert panel headed by Prof. P.V.Indiresan. The
Committee had examined all relevant issues and 'noted that the programme
embedded in the device is completely fixed and unalterable and therefore,
there is no means or access by which the system can be modified from outside'.
The Committee further noted 'the major advantage of the EVM developed in
India is the fixed programme nature of the system. The programme
is permanently fused and hence cannot be tampered with even if it can be
accessed'.
EC is ever willing to open the EVMs
for scrutiny again if genuinely concerned persons approach it, but not
for people who try to draw a non-existent parallel from the US elections
and certainly not to those scaremongers who are interested in writing science-fiction.
Yours sincerely,
(A.N. Jha)
Deputy Election Commissioner &
Spokesperson to the
Election Commission of India
