NEW DELHI: In the backdrop of heads of a few political parties, including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, questioning the credibility of the electronic voting machines, the Election Commission on Sunday came out with 14 FAQs in which it rejected the contention that the machines could be tampered.
Stating that the EVMs are not “backable”, the EC said that “the model one of the machines manufactured till 2006 had all technical features, which made them non-backable contrary to claims of some activists”. It further added that on the recommendations of the technical evaluation committee the model two of the EVMs, which were manufactured between 2006 and 2012, incorporated dynamic coding which allowed transmission of each key press from the ballot unit to the control unit in an encrypted form. The EC also explained that the tampering of the EVMs essentially meant that the key press in the ballot unit not getting captured by the Control unit. This has been an additional security feature in the EVMs, added the EC. It also stated that the malicious sequencing of key presses can be detected.
The EC, while rebutting another contention, stated that the EVMs are stand alone units without any network connection, which rejects any possibility of hacking by remote device. It stated that the Control Unit can only get data from the ballot unit.
Dismissing the contention that the EVMc could be manipulated at the level of manufacturers, the EC argued that the machines have been manufactured long back and no manufacturer could be in the position to know so many years in advance which candidate would be contesting on which symbol, besides knowing the sequence of the candidate in the ballot unit.
The EC also rejected the claims that there could be “Trojan Horse” situations in manipulating the EVMs, while adding that the so called malicious sequencing of key presses is not possible due to the way the control unit and the ballot unit function.
The EC stated that the model one of the EVMs manufactured till 2006 had been last used in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and after that they are not in use because of the lack of voter verified paper audit trail (VVPAT).
The EC also sought to counter the claims that the foreign manufactured EVMs are being used, saying only two public sector undertakings make the machines. The EC has issued a set of 14 FAQs to counter the “misgivings” about the credibility of the EVMs.