Question

introduction on debate the topic Evms

Answer 1

Answer:

Different trends can have different outcomes depending on regions. While some countries, after experimenting with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for many years, have decided not to continue with the trend and reverted to paper ballots, others are showing increasing interest in using electronic voting technologies.

The issue seems to have come full circle in India where EVMs manufactured in 1989-90 were first used in the November 1998 elections. This was done on an experimental basis in 16 assembly constituencies in the states of Madhya Pradesh (5), Rajasthan (5) and Delhi (6). It was then felt that EVMs were a step in the right direction. The 2004 Lok Sabha elections were conducted using EVMs.

But a few months ago, prominent political parties alleged that EVMs had been tampered with ahead of polls and demanded the reintroduction of the ballot paper voting system.

The call to abandon EVMs was not new. In 2009, when the Congress party was doing well in elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Lal Krishna Advani voiced concerns about the reliability of the machines after his party’s electoral defeat. Many political parties also supported the demand to revert to paper ballots.

However, the Election Commission, citing a study by technical experts that EVMs cannot be hacked, rejected the demand.

Explanation:

Answer 2

Answer:

Accusations about the tampering of Electronic Voting Machines continue to be in news.

India’s EVMs have been carefully designed to avoid some of the well-known security problems with electronic voting machines in the West. But it is difficult to agree with Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi’s assertion that all the Election Commission needs to do is double down and more forcefully insist that the EVMs are secure because that is what they believe.

It is not about what insiders trust to be true about voting technology, but about what has been demonstrated to be true to the public about a particular election. Besides, no EVM, including the Indian ones, can be assumed to be invulnerable to a determined attacker. While India’s EVM design makes it harder to implement large-scale attacks, all EVMs do not have to be rigged. Machines judiciously chosen in constituencies that are more favorable to rigging, with the collusion of local individuals, after the random allocation described by Quraishi, could be sufficient.