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| EVM vs ballots papers debatable | | | When LK Advani, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, recently demanded that the ballot papers be reintroduced in the country as he had apprehensions that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were prone to rigging a debate has been set in motion over the issue. Well Advani has fears that the EVMs were prone to rigging. He has neither any instance to substantiate his fear nor has any technical details to show that rigging on the EVMs could be possible. Even though the Election Commissioner, SY Qureshi has stated that a poll panel set up to examine the possibility of malfunctioning of EVMs had expressed their satisfaction over the fact that the EVMs could not be manipulated, but the way a former senior central Government bureaucrat, Omesh Saigal, has claimed that "rigging of EVMs was very much possible" has made the debate over the issue more interesting. It is for the first time that a senior and seasoned politician of the stature of Advani has r aised doubts about the infallibility of the EVMs. Hirtherto, there have been no persistent cry against EVMs and those who had r aised doubts about the proper functioning of the EVMs were trying to cover their defeat in the election by holding the machine responsible for rigging the poll. EVMs were first used in Parur Assembly constituency in Kerala in 1982.The experiment was conducted in 50 polling booths with success. Later it was introduced partially in 1999 elections and fully in 2002 polls. The Election Commission of India had conceived this machine in collaboration with the Bharat Electronics Ltd. Bangalore and Electronics Corporation of India, Hyderabad. Experts are of the view that the microchip used in the EVMs manufactured in Japan and at the time of import it is sealed and any attempt to open the seal for rewriting the programme cannot be done without damaging the chip. But Saigal has conveyed to the Election Commission the study conducted by the Johns Hopkins University and Rice University which has proved that if one was able to gain access to the source code of an EVM one can then cast unlimited ballots without detection. And those who believe that EVMs can be tampered do refer to the electricity meters, including the electronic meters which, over the years, have been fiddled to alter the reading. If it can be done in case of electronic meters why it cannot be done in case of EVMs. The entire issue needs proper review. A team of experts from IITs be constituted to examine the matter and come to some definite conclusion before the Election Commission accepts Advani's suggestion on reintroducing ballot papers. There used to be lot of noise over rigging when the ballot paper system was in vogue in India.One has to take into account the cumbersome process involved in printing ballot papers and counting the votes. Ensure cleansing the mentality of political leaders before trying to clean the EVMs.
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