from time to time questions on evms have been raised wheather it was in year 1982 when it was first used in elections or in 2017 assembly elections.leaders from all political parties have raised questions about the credibility of evms.
but with the recent assembly elections questions on the credibility of evms have come into limelight.
EVM has become a trending topic in the country and everyone wants to know can evms be really hacked or tampered or it is just a myth.
lets take a look at it-
--- one of the allegation on the evms is about its functioning.because it is electronic,it can be easily hacked as there is nothing in the digital world which is 100%full proof against hacking.many countries in the world like netherlands,germany,italy have banned the use of evms because of above reason.
however in reply election commission of india maintains that evms in developed countries were used online and therefore were vulnerable of getting hacked.in india evms operate differently and are not used online.
the indian evms consist of a "control unit" and a "balloting unit".the control unit is under the control of polling officer and he everytime clears the previous deck on the control unit so as to make sure that every vote is registered.the balloting unit is where a voter punches to cast his vote.
--- another allegation on evms is that the computer chips which controls the evms can be easily programmed to do manipulations.this allegation was made by satinath choudhary who is a retried professor of computer science and filed a PIL as well to block the use of evms.
but with the recent assembly elections questions on the credibility of evms have come into limelight.
EVM has become a trending topic in the country and everyone wants to know can evms be really hacked or tampered or it is just a myth.
lets take a look at it-
--- one of the allegation on the evms is about its functioning.because it is electronic,it can be easily hacked as there is nothing in the digital world which is 100%full proof against hacking.many countries in the world like netherlands,germany,italy have banned the use of evms because of above reason.
however in reply election commission of india maintains that evms in developed countries were used online and therefore were vulnerable of getting hacked.in india evms operate differently and are not used online.
the indian evms consist of a "control unit" and a "balloting unit".the control unit is under the control of polling officer and he everytime clears the previous deck on the control unit so as to make sure that every vote is registered.the balloting unit is where a voter punches to cast his vote.
--- another allegation on evms is that the computer chips which controls the evms can be easily programmed to do manipulations.this allegation was made by satinath choudhary who is a retried professor of computer science and filed a PIL as well to block the use of evms.
the election commission is of the view that the program or software is burnt into masked chip or One Time Programmable so that it cannot be altered with.
also the evms is not networked by any wired or wireless system so there is no possibility of data corruption.
--- some people while questioning the credibility of evms argue that there can be procedural manipulations.
election commission rejects this claim on the basis of strong security system.
1. Every EVM has a corresponding identity number. This ID is cross-checked against the EC’s database when its being transported to and from the polling booth. They are guarded at all times by Central Forces.
2. From first level checks by engineers to the manufacturers in the presence of political parties’ representatives, to mock polls where at least 100 votes are cast by representatives of political parties on 5% of the EVMs randomly selected by them.
3. On the day of polling, such mock polls are repeated by casting 50 votes at every polling station, again, in the presence of political party representatives.
4. After polling is concluded, candidates and their representatives are allowed to put their own seals in the strong room. They are also allowed to keep a round the clock watch on the strong room.
IN 2010 A PIL WAS FILED IN SUPREME COURT TO BLOCK THE USE OF EVMS ON THE BASIS THAT THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO TAMPER EVMS.
ON THIS SUPREME COURT ASKED THE EC TO EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY TO INTRODUCE VOTER VERIFIED PAPER AUDIT TRAILS.
ELECTION COMMISSION IS PLANNING TO ROLL OUT VVPAT IN EVERY BOOTH BY 2019 SO AS TO MAINTAIN THE CREDIBILITY OF EVMS.
FROM THE ANALYSIS OF THE ABOVE VIEWS,ONE MAY THINK THAT EVMS ARE SECURED ENOUGH TO PROVIDE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS.
BUT THE REALITY IS- IN THE TODAY'S DIGITAL WORLD NOTHING IS SECURED AND THEREFORE WE CANT FULLY TRUST EVMS AND THE NEED OF THE HOUR IS A HEALTHY DEBATE ON REINTRODUCING PAPER BALLOT SYSTEM.
IF FULL PROOF EVMS COULD HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED THEN THE MOST DEVELOPED NATION i.e THE U.S.A HAVE DEVELOPED IT ALREADY. BUT ITSELF USES PAPER BALLOT SYSTEM FOR COUNTING OF VOTES AND PARTIALLY USES EVMS.
TODAY WE TALK OF CYBER WARFARE AND EVEN THE HIGHLY SECURED CONFIDENTIAL FILES AND SECURITY SYSTEMS OF EVERY COUNTRY IS PRONE TO HACKING AND THEREFORE TO PROVIDE A 100%FULL PROOF EVM IS NOT POSSIBLE.
FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS IS THE BASE OF DEMOCRACY AND AS SUCH EVERYTHING RELATED TO FREE AND FAIR ELECTION NEEDS TO BE HIGHLY DEBATED AND DISCUSSED SO THAT THE PURITY OF DEMOCRACY CAN BE MAINTAINED AND SUSTAINED.
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