DNA Edit: With paper trails, those vilifying EVMs must hold their peace

The Union Cabinet nod for release of funds to the Election Commission for the purchase of VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) machines will go a long way to silence, if not entirely, those raising allegations of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering. The VVPAT will ensure that voters get a paper receipt confirming that the choice they made on the EVM was registered correctly. By dropping the paper receipts in a box, it also allows the Election Commission a second level of scrutiny in case losing candidates make allegations about EVM operation, as had happened after the recent assembly elections. However, the rules for using the paper trail in the event of a recount needs to be formalised. The sanction of funds at this juncture gives the Election Commission adequate time to procure enough VVPAT machines so that the entire country can switch to the system by the 2019 general elections. The EC has also hit the ground running by initiating the purchase of 30,000 new paper trail machines, for deployment in the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

With the Modi government developing into one of the strongest central governments that has ruled India in decades and the BJP becoming the preeminent national party and developing a national footprint, Opposition parties have found a convenient bugbear in EVMs. This was evident in Uttar Pradesh where Mayawati blamed EVMs after being humbled at the hustings and in Punjab where the AAP was beaten by the Congress. With Opposition parties, including the Congress, petitioning the President to replace EVMs with paper ballots, the matter had become far too serious to delay the paper trails. Interestingly, the Centre had slept over 11 letters written by the Election Commission to it seeking funds for the paper trail machines since May 2014. It is this lackadaisical approach that had emboldened the Opposition to float conspiracy theories.

Now that their concerns have been allayed, the Opposition must desist from the regressive demand to return to paper ballots. Casting aspersions on the Election Commission, which has successfully conducted hundreds of elections since Independence, is a new low in Indian politics. In 2009, it was the BJP’s turn to raise suspicions about the EVMs. Politicising the conduct of the EC is a dangerous approach which can return to bite the very parties that are recklessly hurling them today. This was conveyed in as many words by Congress leader Veerappa Moily.  The EC’s reported move to conduct an open hacking challenge for EVMs is another bold move to silence the naysayers. But the original proponent of the EVM vulnerability premise, Hyderabad-based tech entrepreneur Hari K Prasad, has warned that it could backfire. Instead, he wants EVMs subjected to an open security audit so that infirmities can be pointed out, which the EC should then work on. Interestingly, Prasad noted that the VVPAT system would negate the possibility of tampering EVMs. The EVM tampering allegation helped the leaders who lost, deflect attention from their own political and governance failures. With VVPATs in place, these parties must constructively work with the Centre and the Election Commission to iron out the modalities on counting the VVPAT receipts in the event of a dispute. If this is delayed, the next round of confrontation will be on this very issue.