VVPAT Code Changed in Andhra Pradesh But EC Won’t Hear Me: Expert

VVPATs should display voter slips for 7 seconds but are doing it for only 3 seconds, claimed Vemuru.

Hari Prasad Vemuru claims that in Andhra Pradesh many VVPATS had a display discrepancy and were displaying the voter slips for only 3 seconds.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/ The Quint)

Video Editor: Vishal Kumar

After reports of faulty electronic voting machines disrupting the polling process in Andhra Pradesh surfaced on 11 April, a delegation of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu asked the Election Commission to investigate it.

Addressing TDP’s complaint of faulty EVMs, the Election Commission had written to the party asking how Hari Prasad Vemuru, technology advisor to Chandrababu Naidu, could be a part of a delegation on Saturday, 13 April.

The EC, referring to the charges of EVM theft and arrest of Vemuru, in its letter response described Vemuru as a person with a “criminal case”.

Vemuru had received an EVM in 2010 from an anonymous source and used it to demonstrate two live hacks on EVMs to prove that the voting machines were vulnerable to misuse and tampering. He, along with two foreign colleagues, had also published a paper on their findings.

TDP responded to the letter sent by the Election Commission, saying, "We would like to state that instead of focusing on the issue, the Commission is trying to avoid the situation."

According to ANI, they also said, "The ECI is not willing to discuss with him stating the reason of the criminal case, while on many occasions he attended sessions on EVMs."

VVPAT Display On for Only 3 Secs Instead of 7 Secs

The primary concern with the VVPAT machines that Vemuru had sought to raise with the EC was about a reported discrepancy in the machines regarding the duration for which the voter slips were being displayed.

Vemuru alleged that in many constituencies of Andhra Pradesh, which voted in the first phase of the general elections on 11 April, people had complained that the voter slip was visible on the VVPAT display box for only three seconds instead of 7 seconds.

According to EC’s mandated rules, the VVPAT is supposed to light up for 7 seconds to show the slip to the voter.

“When you write a code for 7 seconds it has to show up for 7 seconds. If it shows for 3 seconds there is a change in the code. So, if there is a change in the code there is a serious discrepancy.  If it shows for 3 seconds there is a change in the code.”

Hari Prasad Vemuru