NEW DELHI: When the Supreme Court recently sought responses from the Election Commission of India and the Centre on a plea seeking full count of VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) slips in polls, several political parties saw in it an important first step to make the election process free and fair. At present, VVPAT paper slips of only five randomly-selected EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) in each assembly constituency or each assembly segment of a parliamentary constituency are physically verified.
The VVPAT is an independent vote verification system which permits an elector to see whether the vote he cast went to the right candidate. The VVPAT case will come up before the SC on April 16 — three days before the first phase of the general elections are scheduled to take place.
Though the government buys nearly 24 lakh VVPATs, paper slips of around 20,000 such machines alone are physically counted. But since questions keep swirling over the reliability of the electronic voting process, all VVPAT slips must be counted, the plea emphasised since even a single mismatch could vitiate voter trust in free and fair elections. The petitioners criticised the ECI's existing stipulation of sequential verification of five VVPATs, saying if simultaneous verification is done instead and more officers deployed for counting, complete VVPAT verification can be done within five to six hours.
Echoing the plea, the Congress in its election manifesto promised that if it gets the popular mandate, election laws would suitably be amended to allow the voter to hold and deposit the machine-generated voting slip into the VVPAT unit after casting the ballot through the EVM.
Besides, "The electronic vote tally will be matched against the VVPAT slip tally," the manifesto added.
Existing system
In the VVPAT system, a paper slip bearing the serial number, name and symbol of the candidate who gets the vote is generated after a voter presses the relevant button on the EVM to exercise his franchise. The vote is also recorded in the Control Unit. If there is any dispute, the paper slips can be counted to verify the result on the EVM. A printer attached to the balloting unit is kept in the voting compartment.
A voter, after pressing the button on the balloting unit, can view the printed slip on VVPAT through the viewing window so as to verify if the vote recorded is for the candidate of his/her choice. The paper slip remains visible on the VVPAT for seven seconds through a transparent window. Thereafter, it automatically gets cut and falls in the sealed drop box of the VVPAT. By amending the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, the introduction of VVPATs was facilitated in 2013.
Former Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat said thermal paper is used for VVPAT slips, which can dissolve in liquid very easily. Since printing on this paper is done through ‘burning’ as no ink is used, at the time of counting there could be difficulty in visual identification of the symbols, he warned.
Swamy push
It all began after the BJP led by L K Advani lost in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections against the ruling UPA coalition. The saffron party blamed it on the EVMs. Shortly thereafter, Dr Subramanian Swamy approached the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the ECI to incorporate a system of 'paper trail/paper receipt' in the EVMs as proof that they correctly registered the vote cast in favour of a particular candidate. But it was disallowed in January 2012. Swamy then approached the SC.
Swamy’s case was that the system of EVMs prevalent at the time did not meet international benchmarks though the ECI maintained that EVMs could not be tampered with. During the hearing, he said the ECI had refused to incorporate a safeguard in the EVMs called paper backup, paper receipt or paper trail, which would easily and cheaply meet the requirement of proof. For its part, the ECI informed the court that it was exploring the introduction of a viable VVPAT mechanism in EVMs to ensure transparency. The court in its judgment in 2013 said ‘paper trail’ was an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections, and directed the ECI to introduce the VVPAT mechanism.
Guideline 16.6
Subsequently, the ECI issued a manual on the EVM and VVPAT, Guideline 16.6 of which stipulated that an EVM in only one randomly selected polling station in each assembly constituency or each assembly segment of a parliamentary constituency, shall undergo verification of VVPAT slips.
In 2019, as many as 21 Opposition leaders petitioned the SC, seeking the quashing of Guideline 16.6 and a direction to the ECI to verify 50% of VVPAT slips in each Assembly segment for the Lok Sabha polls or the constituency in assembly polls. But the ECI argued that it would result in huge infrastructure problems and manpower issues. It shared that sample verification of VVPAT paper trail of one EVM was done by a team of three officers under the direct supervision of the Returning Officer and the Election Observer of the constituency. The process took about an hour, so what the petitioner asked for could delay the declaration of the results of 2019 elections by five to six days.
Former CEC Rawat said the poll panel did extensive consultation with the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata and Delhi on the issue. “In their report to the poll panel, they said it was difficult to arrive at a 100% match on the verification of votes. But verification of the VVPAT paper trail of 479 randomly selected EVMs would generate over 99.99% accuracy,” Rawat recalled the report as having said. The scale of voting is humongous as it takes place at over 10 lakh polling stations in any national election, he added.
Defending Guideline 16.6, Rawat said, it mandated that VVPAT paper trail of 4,300 EVMs - instead of 479 EVMs suggested by the ISI - is verified. However, the SC found a middle path to generate the “greatest degree of satisfaction in all with regard to the full accuracy of the election results” by enhancing from one to five the number of random polling stations in each assembly constituency or each assembly segment of a parliamentary constituency where the VVPAT slips will be verified.
Voter turnout data and final vote count
After the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when VVPATs were introduced for the first time, Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra approached the SC seeking directions to the poll body to publish details of the voter turnout and the final vote count in the elections on their website. The same year, alleging serious discrepancies between the number of voters in different constituencies (i.e. the voter turnout data collated independently and the figures provided by the ECI) and the number of votes counted, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Common Cause jointly moved the SC. They stressed that the ECI has a statutory duty to collate and publish accurate data on the elections.
In 2023, ADR filed another petition contending the SC-mandated procedure through which the ECI cross-verifies EVMs with the VVPATs in only five randomly selected polling stations in each assembly constituency, is deficient. It said every voter has a fundamental right to verify that their vote has been ‘recorded as cast’ and ‘counted as recorded’. It said the ECI has provided no procedure for every voter to verify that their vote has been ‘counted as recorded’ which is an indispensable part of voter verifiability.
In its counter affidavit, the ECI said counting all VVPAT paper slips manually would not only be labour and time-intensive, but also be prone to human error and mischief.
Concurring with the ECI, former CEC Rawat said, “Going for 100% matching of paper trails with the EVMs cannot be done and it is actually unnecessary... Troublemakers now want to go back to the physical ballot system, which could mean a revival of the booth capturing and muscle power era in elections,” he noted.
Whether the call for further transparency would get the Supreme Court’s vote at the April 16 hearing is anybody's guess.
Factoids
EVM was first conceived in 1977. Its prototype was developed by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), Hyderabad in 1979 and demonstrated by the ECI before representatives of political parties on August 6, 1980
After reaching a wide consensus, EVMs were deployed on a pilot basis on May 19, 1982. The law was amended by Parliament in December 1988 and a new Section 61A was included in the Representation of the People Act 1951, thereby empowering the ECI to use EVMs. The amendment came into force on March 15, 1989
Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), Bangalore, selected along with ECIL to manufacture EVMs
Centre set up an Electoral Reforms Committee (ERC) in January 1990, consisting of representatives from several national and state-level political parties under the chairmanship of Dinesh Goswami. The ERC recommended the examination of EVM by a team of technical experts
A Technical Expert Committee (TEC) in April 1990 unanimously recommended the use of EVMs, stating it was technically sound, secure and transparent
In 1998, EVMs were used in 16 assembly constituencies across three states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi
EVMs were deployed in 1999 at 46 parliamentary constituencies, and later, in February 2000, EVMs were used in 45 constituencies in the Haryana assembly polls. In 2001, the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal were completely conducted using EVMs. All state assembly elections thereafter witnessed the use of EVMs
In 2004, EVMs were used in all 543 LS constituencies
Pre-2006 EVMs were known as ‘Ml EVMs’, while EVMs manufactured between 2006 to 2010 were called ‘M2 EVMs’. The latest generation of EVMs, produced since 2013 are known as ‘M3 EVMs’
VVPAT was first used in the by-election for 51-Noksen assembly constituency in Nagaland
First challenge to EVM
In 1982, when EVM was first used in Kerala as a pilot project, candidate Sivan Pillai challenged its use even before the election. But the Kerala High Court did not entertain his challenge. Pillai won that election. But his opponent challenged the introduction of EVMs thereafter. That election was re-conducted with paper ballots after a Supreme Court ruling in 1984. The ruling was about a technicality, which was corrected through amendment of the Representation of the People Act 1951 in 1988.
Greater participation
The introduction of EVMs was frowned upon by certain sections citing the large-scale illiteracy and socio-economic backwardness of the country. But, a joint study of Indian School of Business, Indian Statistical Institute and Brookings Institution in 2017 with the help of post-poll survey data between 2000 and 2005 from the independent Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), showed that EVMs led to greater participation in electoral process by the marginalised and vulnerable voters such as women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
KEY FEATURES OF M-3 EVMs/VVPATs
Standalone Machine: EVM is a standalone system not connected with the external world through any wired or wireless network medium
Unauthorised Access Detection Module (UADM): UADM embedded in the machine disables EVM permanently if any attempt is made to access microcontroller or memory
Advanced Encryption Techniques: Encrypted communication between Control Unit, Ballot Unit and VVPAT cannot be deciphered by tapping cables
Automated self diagnostics on every switch ON: EVM checks its own health parameters each time it is Switched ON
Strong Mutual Authentication Capability: The strong mutual authentication capability ensures that no unauthorised device can interact with EVM
No Radio Frequency Transmission or Reception Capability: Tampering of ECI-EVMs by any wireless coded signal using any protocol (Bluetooth, WIFI, RFID, NFD etc.) is ruled out as EVM does not have any radio frequency (RF) communication capability, hence cannot communicate through any wireless protocol
One Time Programmable (OTP): The software used in these machines is key hashed and burnt into a One Time Programmable (OTP) chip at the time of manufacturing. It cannot be altered or tampered with
Dynamic Coding of Key Presses: Every key press is coded dynamically making it impossible for anyone to decode the signals flowing among the Control Unit, Balloting Unit and VVPAT
Real Time Clock for date and time stamping of events: Every authorised or unauthorised key press is recorded with date and time stamp on real time basis
Source: Election Commission of India