Can EVMs Be Reprogrammed To Record All Votes To One Candidate? Here Is What EC Said
With the Lok Sabha Elections around the corner, there is a growing debate over the safety and reliability of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) used for the polls.
Ever since they were first introduced back in 1982 in the by-elections to Parur Assembly Constituency of Kerala, EVMs that went on to replace paper ballots have been viewed with skepticism by a large section of the society.
Allegations of EVM hack
Many argue that EVMs can be hacked and programmed to record all votes in favour of one candidate, irrespective of which button the voter had pressed. Over the years, there have also been several legal challenges that sought to ban EVMs in elections and revert to paper ballots.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has repeatedly vouched for the credibility of the EVMs and maintained that they cannot be hacked or reprogrammed.
How EVMs are programmed
In its latest set of FAQs about EVMs, the EC has provided further details on why the fear of EVM hacking is unfounded.
"The original program is ported onto the microcontroller during manufacturing at the factory and is done many months before it is deployed in elections. It is impossible to know the name and Serial number of any candidate so much in advance to be able to pre-program the EVM to favour any particular candidate. After loading the original firmware during production, the microcontroller is One Time Programmed to eliminate any programmability subsequently. Once the original programme is ported onto the microchip and it is One Time Programmed it cannot be reprogrammed at all," the ECI said.
EVMs don't have an operating system?
The ECI further stated that the EVMs do not have an operating system and therefore, there is no chance of reprogramming or manipulation of the program in a particular way to favour a particular candidate or political party.
EVMs can't be connected to mobiles/bluetooth
The EVM is a standalone device without any wired or wireless connectivity outside the EVM systems, making it impossible to connect to mobile phones or Bluetooth devices to manipulate them.
According to ECI, each unit of the EVMs contains an ¡°Unauthorised Access Detection Module ( UADM )¡± which renders the machine unusable if it detects an attempt to open the UADM. Thus, any attempt to modify the machine after its production will fail.
How candidates are listed on EVM
ECI also pointed out that the names of candidates are listed in an alphabetic order on the voting machines and the sequence cannot be ascertained much in advance.
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