EVMs not tamper-proof, but no paper trail: Delhi HC

[BanglaBhoot]

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Tuesday said that electronic voting machines (EVMs), that have come to be the backbone of elections in India, are not "tamper-proof".

The court, however, refused to direct the EC to incorporate a paper trail to record votes cast through EVMs.

Giving its ruling on a petition, the HC bench comprising Acting Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said it was not impossible to tamper with the EVMs but added that it is difficult to issue any directions to the Election Commission in this regard.

However, the court added that the EC should itself consider a way out of it to put to rest all the doubts.

The petitioner had asked the high court that either a paper trail be incorporated to record the votes cast through EVMs or return to the old system of paper ballots.

The bench had earlier reserved its verdict on the plea till today.

The petitioner had contended that there was lack of transparency in EVMs.

European countries like the UK, the US and Japan have rejected the EVMs due to their failure and they preferred paper ballots for their elections, the petitioner had said.

Seeking the court's direction, he also said "the EVM's brain, micro controller is being manufactured in foreign countries like Japan, which themselves do not use the machine due to its demerits".

The EC, however, opposed the plea saying that returning to the paper ballots would not be feasible as it would require immense expenditure as there are now over 73 crore voters in the country.

"The machine ( EVM) accommodates as many as 64 party symbols and because of electronically organised data, the counting became faster," the EC's counsel had said.

EVMs not tamper-proof, but no paper trail: Delhi HC - Times Of India

 

[integra]

You think this is news?

C'mon! Spread this video everywhere

 

[LaBong]

How does that concern Bangladesh? :/

EVMs can be tampered but only by physically damaging it.

 

[integra]

How does that concern Bangladesh? :/

EVMs can be tampered but only by physically damaging it.

Well the next elections are to be held through EVM.
Secondly, as it seems only the microcontroller is
manufactured in foreign places, not the algorithms
accompanying the system.

The old ballot system wasn't that bad :/

 

[LaBong]

Well the next elections are to be held through EVM.
Secondly, as it seems only the microcontroller is
manufactured in foreign places, not the algorithms
accompanying the system.

The old ballot system wasn't that bad :/

There is something called User testing where they pick random EVM and checks the functionality, any anomaly in the algorithm can be found that way.

 

[integra]

There is something called User testing where they pick random EVM and checks the functionality, any anomaly in the algorithm can be found that way.

Good, ofcourse there is.
The problem is in developing democracies such practices
aren't the normal procedures.

E.g Lets say Party A gets
10 brownies when Party B gets 359 points or some sort of
Timers with a conditional logic. Only an experienced
cracker might know the loopholes but not some mediocre user.

Somewhere ( forgot the link) they said in a traditional ballot system
if the voters are above 10 crores, it' quite impossible to rig the vote.
Significant number pf users are to be bribed for that, which is impossible,
ofcourse the opposition parties and their fanboys won't accept the logic.
Atleast not in SE Asia.

But for EVM , Yes it can be tempered quite easily if the beurocracy
supports it, which actually is the case.

 

[LaBong]

Good, ofcourse there is.
The problem is in developing democracies such practices
aren't the normal procedures.

E.g Lets say Party A gets
10 brownies when Party B gets 359 points or some sort of
Timers with a conditional logic. Only an experienced
cracker might know the loopholes but not some mediocre user.

Somewhere ( forgot the link) they said in a traditional ballot system
if the voters are above 10 crores, it' quite impossible to rig the vote.
Significant number pf users are to be bribed for that, which is impossible,
ofcourse the opposition parties and their fanboys won't accept the logic.
Atleast not in SE Asia.

But for EVM , Yes it can be tempered quite easily if the beurocracy
supports it, which actually is the case.

Opposition parties can always get an EVM, get the source code, pay a forensic company, discover the loophole, screw the ruling party.

 

[integra]

Opposition parties can always get an EVM, get the source code, pay a forensic company, discover the loophole, screw the ruling party.

Dude, it's not europe.
BNP wants to inspect EVM, EC says no

 

[nalandapride]

Counting the votes of 500 million people by hand is a back-breaking task. EVMs are integal part of this. They can go for more safety features for EVMs but going back to primitive way of ballot paper sounds stupidity. Apart from this Election Commission of India is most honest organisation in India and always had ensured free and fair violence free elections in India.

 

[Al Bhatti]

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/unpan/unpan026090.pdf

 

[harpoon]

If indeed EVMs can be tampered with, why is opposition parties like BJP keeping quiet.

 

[nalandapride]

If indeed EVMs can be tampered with, why is opposition parties like BJP keeping quiet.

All major national parties are in support of EVM, there are some regional parties who always need something to blame for their defeat.

 

[livingdead]

EVMs need to be physically accessed to be tampered. In a populous country like India, that will mean capturing hundreds of them for a single MP seat.
Not so easy to do.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

EVMs need to be physically accessed to be tampered. In a populous country like India, that will mean capturing hundreds of them for a single MP seat.
Not so easy to do.

This is Bangladesh we are talking about. The tampering will be coordinated in Bangladesh.

 

[harpoon]

This is Bangladesh we are talking about. The tampering will be coordinated in Bangladesh.

Same can be done with paper ballots with much greater ease.