Chidambaram says machines remain highly vulnerable

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre and the Election Commission to respond by May 8 to a plea by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to comply with a 2013 court directive to introduce paper trail in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

A Bench led by Justice J. Chelameswar issued notice to the Centre and the top poll body after senior advocate P. Chidambaram submitted that EVMs remain highly vulnerable and susceptible to hacking. “What one man can invent another man can hack,” Mr. Chidambaram submitted.

“I [voter] press a button on the EVM and I do not know what the machine has recorded There is no way I can know that the machine is recording the wishes of the electorate,” Mr. Chidambaram said. He said if the EVM was fixed to a vote-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machine, the voter could see whether the symbol the voter had pressed was the symbol the EVM had registered in the system.

‘Verification a must’

Verification of the vote was an indispensable part of voting, Mr. Chidambaram submitted. “Only a paper trail can restore the confidence of the people,” Mr. Chidambaram submitted.

The Supreme Court had in 2013, on a petition filed by now BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, asked the Election Commission to introduce in a phased manner the paper trail in EVMs for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, saying “it is an indispensable requirement of free, fair and transparent” polls which will restore voter confidence.

The Supreme Court, which directed the Centre to provide financial assistance to the poll panel for introduction of the VVPAT system in EVMs, had said it would “ensure the accuracy of the voting system” and also help in “manual counting of votes in case of dispute.”

“The ‘paper trail’ is an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections. The confidence of voters in the EVMs can be achieved only with introduction of the paper trail,” it had said.

“EVMs with VVPAT system ensure the accuracy of the voting system. With an intent to have fullest transparency in the system and to restore the confidence of the voters, it is necessary to set up EVMs with VVPAT system because vote is nothing but an act of expression which has immense importance in democratic system,” the Bench had said.

Mr. Chidambaram said the Election Commission had sent SOS to the Centre for funds to install EVMs with VVPAT. A total of ₹3,000 crore was required, and the way things were proceeding, it would take another 150 years, the senior lawyer submitted.

The BSP and the Congress, the latter which sought permission to intervene along with other opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, said they did not want to press their prayer for quashing of the recent Assembly elections.

Judge retorts

“Nowhere in the world, except in South America, EVMs are used,” senior advocate Kapil Sibal for the Congress submitted. But this comment saw Justice Chelameswar retort that “if I am not wrong, EVM was introduced by your party.”

“EVM itself was a remedy for other evils of polling like booth-capturing, etc,” Justice Chelameswar said.

“Science has improved, so has hacking,” Mr. Chidambaram responded.