EVMs
are not tamper-free; Dr. Swamy files PIL for dual voting system
From
Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
Chennai, 18 February (Asiantribune.com)
Dr. Subramanian Swamy
Electronic Voting Machines are not tamper-free, unique instrument
and they definitely needed rectification to ensure free and fair
elections, Janata Party president Dr.Subramanian Swamy contended
in the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.
He told the acting Chief Justice, Madan B. Lokur, when his PIL came
for hearing before him, that EVMs should not be used without paper
receipts. The Commission’s refusal to entertain his request
for the dual system forced him to approach the court, he said. The
Election Commission’s claim that EVMs were tamper-proof was
proved wrong, he submitted.
Dr. Swamy said EVMs were not unique instruments as claimed by the
Commission since Bharat Electronics Limited and the Electronics
Corporation of India Limited, which developed them, had withdrawn
the application for patent before the World Intellectual Property
Organisation.
The court posted the matter for April 14 as Dr. Swamy sought time
to submit some more documents.
International conference of EVMs in Chennai
On Saturday, Dr Swamy had demanded in Chennai that an independent
expert committee be appointed to find out how electronic voting
machines could be safeguarded securely, participating at an international
conference on ‘Electronic voting machines: How Trustworthy?,’
convened by the Centre for National Renaissance, New Delhi.
He said several countries had banned the use of EVMs. The international
consensus was that EVMs were a danger to democracy as they were
not trustworthy. The Election Commission had not demonstrated that
EVMs could never be rigged.
If the Commission wanted to continue their use, it should give a
printed receipt to every voter just as people used to get in automated
teller machines after cash withdrawal. This receipt was a requirement
under the Information Technology Act of 2000, which the Commission
was “adamantly and obstinately” refusing to comply with.
He said renowned computer experts were ready to demonstrate that
EVMs could be rigged, and stressed the need for an in-built safeguard.
About 35 experts from India, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.S.
took part in the conference. Questioning the reliability of EVMs,
they said even advanced countries were reverting to paper ballots
as they felt that EVMs were not trustworthy.
Till Jaeger, Attorney, Supreme Court, Germany, said their use was
a violation of the fundamental right to information as the voter
was unable to see clearly to whom he was casting his vote and how
it was being counted.
Rop Gonggrijp, computer hacker specialist from the Netherlands,
said the Election Commission’s claim that it had invented
EVMs that could not be rigged was ridiculous. He felt there was
no such thing as ‘unriggable or untamparable.’
J. Alex Halderman, Professor of Computer Science, University of
Michigan, said that in the beginning, U.S. citizens were enamoured
of the EVMs’ efficiency and modernity. Now they felt elections
‘could be stolen’ and were demanding paper ballots.
David L. Dill, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University,
in his letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, had said: “Computerised
voting equipment was inherently subject to ‘programming error,
equipment malfunction and malicious tampering.’ It was time
to recognise the reality that there is no basis for public trust
in paperless voting equipment.”
Hariprasad, and V.V. Rao, software engineers, said the Commission
did not allow them to complete their demonstration of the tamperability
of EVMs. Commission officials abruptly aborted their demonstration,
stating that they could not be allowed to continue as it involved
the patent rights of the Electronic Corporation of India.
The conference unanimously resolved that in the interest of free
and fair elections, the EVMs should provide a voter verifiable paper
trail, and if it was not feasible, the Commission should return
to the paper ballot system.
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Asian Tribune -
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