After political controversy over the tampering of electronic voting machines (EVMs), Haryana Election Department on Sunday said that the EVMs being used in the country are credible, reliable and tamper-proof.
“Various High Courts have also held that that the machines are reliable and tamper-proof, and the Supreme Court has also dismissed appeals filed by some petitioners against High Court orders in this regard,” a spokesman of the Department said here.
He said that as the EVMs were not networked to any other machine or system, nor connected to the Internet, these could not be hacked and there was no possibility of data corruption. Besides, the software used in these machines is burnt into a One Time Programmable or Masked Chip so that it cannot be altered or tampered with.
Apart from this, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) has been introduced, under which a paper slip bearing name and symbol of the candidate voted for, along with recording of vote, is generated in Control Unit of the EVM. In case of any dispute, this slip could be counted to verify the result being shown on the EVM. The paper slip remains visible on VVPAT for seven seconds through a transparent window.
Referring to the administrative and procedural measures taken for the security of EVMs, he said that these safeguards are implemented by the Election Commission of India transparently and with the active and documented involvement of political parties, candidates and their representatives at every stage.
He said that before every election, first level checking of every EVM to be used is done by engineers of the manufacturers in the presence of representatives of political parties and any malfunctioning EVM is kept aside and not used in the election. The EVMs to be approved are sealed using Pink Paper seal signed by representatives of political parties.
Apart from this, stored EVMs are randomised by computer software twice, including once for allocation of machines to Assembly constituencies and second to polling stations in the presence of candidates or their representatives before they are distributed for use in individual polling stations.
He said that mock polls are also conducted by representatives of political parties at the time of first level checking, candidate setting and before the actual poll on the poll day. On the poll day, a mock poll is conducted at every polling station by casting at least 50 votes in the presence of representatives of political parties or polling agents with their signature and a mock-poll certificate to that effect is obtained from every presiding officers.
After the poll is over, the presiding officer presses the ‘Close’ button on the EVM in the presence of polling agents after which the EVM is sealed, he added.