Election Commission To Launch Campaign Reassuring Public That Electronic Voting Machines Are Safe

The Election Commission has decided to counter the allegation that electronic voting machines can be tampered with, after four political parties questioned the credibility of EVMs in the just-concluded elections to five state assemblies.

AFP

An EC insider said high-level discussions have begun to put in place a proper strategy to reinforce the credibility of EVMs and effectively show that it is tamper-proof. The EC intends to involve political parties, the media and the public to ensure that the faith in the electoral process and the EVMs is intact.

A graded awareness campaign is being considered to counter the ¡®perception¡¯ created around EVMs. Possibilities of demonstrations of the EVM and open challenge if it can be tampered with ¡ª as done in 2009 ¡ª are being examined.

BCCL

The EC maintains that the EVM is tamper-proof but it is concerned about people losing faith in them. The EC will underline that the EVM is a unique as a machine as every device is standalone and cannot communicate with any other EVM or device.

It has no oscillatory circuit or any electric cable in it. It is not compatible with Bluetooth or wifi systems to enable any kind of communication with any other machine and every EVM is put through a meticulous drill before deployment in polls.

AFP

Almost every losing side has alleged EVM tampering this season. BSP chief Mayawati was the first to cry foul, within hours of UP election results rolling out. SP¡¯s Akhilesh Yadav also seemed to lend some credence to Mayawati¡¯s argument during a press meet that day. Not to be left behind, the Congress also joined Mayawati¡¯s demand. The latest allegation on EVM tampering came from Kejriwal.

EC rejected Mayawati¡¯s allegations and complaints on March 11 itself. In a letter to the BSP national general secretary, the EC said it has ¡°not found any merit in your allegations and the prayers made in your letter are legally untenable¡±.

BCCL

It also pointed out that it has been using EVMs for elections successfully since 2000 and has given opportunity more than once to those alleging manipulations of EVMs to prove so but no one has been able to demonstrate that EVMs can be manipulated or tampered with.