Acting on a Supreme Court judgment, the Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday released a technical Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for checking and verifying the burnt memory of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), with expanded choices for candidates. It specifies that if the results of a mock poll tally with the VVPAT slips, then there is no tampering.

The technical SOP includes the selection of EVMs from any polling station in an Assembly constituency, the mix and match of EVM units (BU-CU-VVPAT) from any polling station, connecting BU-CU-VVPAT in any sequence and the option of casting up to 1,400 votes in a mock poll in any sequence.

In its letter to the Chief Electoral Officers, Chairman-cum-Managing Directors of Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited, the EC said the candidates would have the choice of selecting EVMs from any polling stations in the constituency and also any combination of the Ballot Units (BUs), Control Units (CUs), and VVPATs up to 5 per cent of the total.

They would also be able to decide in which order they want the BU, CU, and VVPAT to be connected. The order in which the units are connected does not have an impact on how they work. According to the SOP, the checking would be done by authorised and trained engineers from BEL and ECIL.

The entire process would be carried out under CCTV cameras and in the presence of candidates or their representatives.

On April 26, the Supreme Court had ordered the EC to facilitate checking and verification of the burnt memory or microcontrollers of up to 5 per cent of the Electronic Voting Machines (ballot units and control units) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails of an Assembly constituency or Assembly segment of a Lok Sabha constituency on the written request of the candidates who come in second and third in that seat.

The EC wrote, “There can be varied technical methods to verify the fidelity of a firmware burnt into a microcontroller within confines of a research laboratory or a secured manufacturing environment. Checking and verification of any firmware burnt (fused) into the memory of a microcontroller can be verified in a public process by giving a vast number of ransom test vectors as inputs and evaluating the intended outcome(s).”

The poll body said the eligible candidates can give choices of polling stations or serial numbers of machines from within the Assembly segment or constituency, subject to a maximum of five per cent EVMs used in that segment or seat to undergo check and verification process.  

This will ensure the EVMs are picked up from across the constituency as per choice of the applicant without the involvement of a third party or officials in selecting or leaving out any particular machine.  The choice to mix and match EVM units from any polling station in the assembly constituency has also been offered.

If any applicant candidate selects any specific unit — ballot unit, control nit or VVPAT — of a particular polling station, he/she is not bound to choose other units of the same set used at that polling station.   At least one ballot unit, one control unit and one VVPAT or paper trail machine makes up for one EVM.

Instead, the applicant candidate can mix and match and give his choice of other units from remaining polled units used at other polling stations in the assembly constituency or assembly segment to make a set.  Polled units are those which were used in the elections to cast votes.

All EVM units will undergo self-diagnosis. Several electrical parameters will be checked, including the fidelity of the burnt memory and only self-diagnosed units will thereafter go for further check and verification. 

The EVM units selected by the candidates after mix and match first shall undergo self-diagnosis followed by mutual authentication of each other. Successful mutual authentication takes place only between genuine EVM units and the result of the self-diagnosis of connected units is displayed on control unit.   The mutual authentication process ensures that spurious or unauthorised units do not get connected with ECI-EVMs at any stage.  The counting of VVPAT slips will be done as per the procedure on counting of VVPAT slips prescribed by the Commission.

 A total of eight applications for Lok Sabha and three for assembly polls were received for checking and verification of burnt memory/microcontroller of EVMs post the announcement of results on June 4. The Commission's choice and outcome-based approach for the C-V process instead of a controlled environment process enhances transparency and ensures the active participation of candidates