Mission Impossible? A Dummy’s Guide to Making EVMs Tamper-Proof

Here’s the Election Commission’s defence of their EVMs, stating the measures taken to ensure they are tamper-proof.

Arvind Kejriwal has claimed that an EVM can be tampered “within 90 seconds flat”. (Photo: Rhythum Seth/The Quint)

Much to the Election Commission’s displeasure, the question of whether Electronic Voting Machines – or EVMs as they are commonly known as – can be hacked has had Opposition parties debating for at least a couple of months now.

On Tuesday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) upped the ante of the debate by several notches. AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj conducted a live demonstration at the Delhi Assembly to prove that the voting machines can be easily manipulated.

Arvind Kejriwal even stepped in to claim that an EVM can be tampered with “in 90 seconds flat”. The Delhi Chief Minister then dared the EC to provide an EVM to his party to prove its infallibility. As things stand now, the party will participate in the ‘EVM Hackathon’ to be organised by the poll panel later this month.

Even as the EC continues to swear by the “sacrosanct” polling machines, here’s their defence on how EVMs are tamper-proof and thus ensure ‘Mission Clean Voting’.

Also Read: ‘Kejriwal vs EVM’: Twitter Says AAP Organised a Comedy Show

Tamper-Me-Not

The machine is electronically protected to prevent any tampering or manipulation. The software programme of the EVMs is fused onto “a one-time programmable chip” that cannot be read or modified.

(Photo: Akriti Paracer/The Quint)

So, it negates the possibility of data corruption.

EVM Testing One, Two, Three...

There are multiple layers of testing and security audits before and during the manufacturing of the EVMs and also before being used in elections.

First Level Checking is done by engineers of Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited to make sure the components are authentic and are functional.

The source code of the EVM is never handed over to anyone outside the software group of PSUs.

(Photo: Akriti Paracer/The Quint)

A mock test is then conducted.

(Photo: Akriti Paracer/The Quint)

Also Read: 10 Questions AAP’s EVM ‘Exposé’ Fails to Answer

EVMs Allotted to Different Constituencies

EVMs selected for polling are randomised through software in the presence of representatives of political parties for allocation at the constituency level.

(Photo: Akriti Paracer/The Quint)

The names of the contesting candidates are then set on the ballot unit in alphabetical order. Before the polling begins, there is another poll of at least 50 votes in the presence of agents of each candidate.

(Photo: Akriti Paracer/The Quint)

The vote can be recorded by an elector from the ballot unit, only after the presiding officer enables the ballot on the control unit.

(Photo: Akriti Paracer/The Quint)

After the poll, they take the machines to the Strong Room, which is then sealed with signature of candidates or their agents.

Each EVM Is Unique

(Photo: Akriti Paracer/The Quint)

Nothing can be written on the chip after it is manufactured.

Votes are counted in the presence of candidates and their representatives who actively participate at every stage.

Over the past years, different high courts – Karnataka, Madras, Delhi, Kerala and Bombay – have considered various petitions questioning the integrity of EVMs. They concluded that the machines are credible, reliable and tamper-proof.

(Source: Security Analysis of India’s Electronic Voting Machines, News18.com)