05-31-2009, 05:50 AM
<b>Dangers of Electronic Voting</b>
<b>Did your vote really count in the last election---you never know!</b>
<img src='http://www.keralamonitor.com/gifs/evm.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
It is a fact that the election results announced on May 16 surprised the entire nation and proved all exit pollsters wrong. It is difficult to assume that all the post election exit polls can be proved equally wrong. While the exit polls predicted a hung parliament, the election result gave a clear majority to the ruling party. Is there a possibility that the exit polls represented the actual voting pattern and political mood in the country and that the election results announced on by counting the electronic votes recorded by the EVMs was due to a silent coup using the machines manufactured and handled by the countries largest defence electronic firms --Bharat Electronics Ltd and (Bel) the Electronic Corporation of India LTD (ECIL), Both the defence units are part of Indian military industrial complex, which do not have much reputation for transparency.
<img src='http://www.keralamonitor.com/gifs/rajashekhar%20evm.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
The recent Indian Parliament election is noted for the crucial role of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in the fast and efficient conduct of the voting process. The largest democracy in the world used 1.5 million EVMS manufactured by two defence electronic units and monitored by the Election Commission of India. The reputation of indigenous EVMs are upheld by the government officials and the mainstream media alike, and an ongoing debate in the Western countries, bastions of parliamentary democracy, about the use and misuse of electronic voting don't find much space in the Indian visual or print media.
It is a fact that the election results announced on May 16 surprised the entire nation and proved all exit pollsters wrong. It is difficult to assume that all the post election exit polls can be proved equally wrong. While the exit polls predicted a hung parliament, the election result gave a clear majority to the ruling party. Is there a possibility that the exit polls represented the actual voting pattern and political mood in the country and that the election results announced by counting the electronic votes recorded by the EVMs was due to a silent coup using the machines manufactured and handled by the countries largest defence electronic firms --Bharat Electronics Ltd and (Bel) the Electronic Corporation of India LTD (ECIL), Both the defence units are part of Indian military industrial complex, which do not have much reputation for transparency. While the power tussle between the incoming and outgoing election commissioners, pro-BJP Gopalaswami and pro Congress Navin Chawla, was widely reported in the national media, a silent leadership change in both the defence electronic units largely remained outside the focus of mainstream Indian media. (box) --(Features of Electronic Voting Machines--Source India Election Commission)
A major flaw in the working of EVM is that the election results cannot be physically verified as the digital system leaves no paper trail. Allover the world, especially in the USA, experts are questioning legitimacy of flawed digital voting system and demanding governments to introduce Voter Verified Paper Records. In the Indian electronic voting machine system, as in some other countries, there is no paper record of the votes and a voter cannot verify the accuracy of the digital record before casting his vote. Some Experts have hinted at major flaws in the indigenous electronic voting process that leaves an ordinary voter absolutely in the dark whether his e-vote is "really" recorded in the account of his favourite candidate. Media reports from certain constituencies in Kerala and other states indicated that the voting machines were recording votes cast in the name of one candidate in the account of rival candidates! Was it just the tip of an ice berg or isolated incidents due to technical glitches? Nothing more is heard about the faulty rigged EVMs that were recording votes cast in the name of one candidate going to the rival candidates and only time will reveal the reality. The UPA alliance low moral standing was exposed during the "note for vote" drama staged in the Indian Parliament during the no confidence motion after the left parties withdrew support in the name of Indo-USA Nuclear deal. (K S Rajasekhara Rao, who superannuated on 30th April..2009 former Chairman & Managing Director of Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad, Examining EVMs__courtesy the Hindu)
While nothing is heard about the reasons for such malfunctioning or rigged electronic voting machines there is ample reason to argue that everything was not fair with the use of 1.5 million EVMs in Indian elections for the 49th Parliamentary Election, which was crucial for many reasons. The EVMS made by two defence companies in India under the strict government control and their source codes and technical details are not revealed to the public.. EVM Malfunctioning was reported in other states too. Was there a big fraud involving the Indian Government machinery to rig the elections in favour of the ruling party? There are enough reasons to suspect so. The EVM process codes, not so open to the media or independent verification can easily be manipulated...Such large scale rigging of electronic voting machines did happen in the US during the November 2004 reelection of George W. Bush. Some other European countries too are not using electronic voting machines for obvious reasons.. A leading politician had in fact demonstrated how an EVM can be fudged in favour of one candidate against the rest (Read How to Tampter with voting machines (Right top column)
The EVM officials claim that the machines are smarter than the previous versions and records the votes with exact time that the voter cast his or her vote. Since 2000 the Bharat Electronics Ltd (Bhel) supplied 650,000 EVMS and for the 2009 elections it made 102,000 EVMs, all supplied by January 2009. Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) Hydrabad supplied 78,000 machines with the improved features.
<b>Features of Electronic Voting Machines</b>
http://www.keralamonitor.com/gifs/EVM_Features.pdf
<b>Did your vote really count in the last election---you never know!</b>
<img src='http://www.keralamonitor.com/gifs/evm.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
It is a fact that the election results announced on May 16 surprised the entire nation and proved all exit pollsters wrong. It is difficult to assume that all the post election exit polls can be proved equally wrong. While the exit polls predicted a hung parliament, the election result gave a clear majority to the ruling party. Is there a possibility that the exit polls represented the actual voting pattern and political mood in the country and that the election results announced on by counting the electronic votes recorded by the EVMs was due to a silent coup using the machines manufactured and handled by the countries largest defence electronic firms --Bharat Electronics Ltd and (Bel) the Electronic Corporation of India LTD (ECIL), Both the defence units are part of Indian military industrial complex, which do not have much reputation for transparency.
<img src='http://www.keralamonitor.com/gifs/rajashekhar%20evm.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
The recent Indian Parliament election is noted for the crucial role of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in the fast and efficient conduct of the voting process. The largest democracy in the world used 1.5 million EVMS manufactured by two defence electronic units and monitored by the Election Commission of India. The reputation of indigenous EVMs are upheld by the government officials and the mainstream media alike, and an ongoing debate in the Western countries, bastions of parliamentary democracy, about the use and misuse of electronic voting don't find much space in the Indian visual or print media.
It is a fact that the election results announced on May 16 surprised the entire nation and proved all exit pollsters wrong. It is difficult to assume that all the post election exit polls can be proved equally wrong. While the exit polls predicted a hung parliament, the election result gave a clear majority to the ruling party. Is there a possibility that the exit polls represented the actual voting pattern and political mood in the country and that the election results announced by counting the electronic votes recorded by the EVMs was due to a silent coup using the machines manufactured and handled by the countries largest defence electronic firms --Bharat Electronics Ltd and (Bel) the Electronic Corporation of India LTD (ECIL), Both the defence units are part of Indian military industrial complex, which do not have much reputation for transparency. While the power tussle between the incoming and outgoing election commissioners, pro-BJP Gopalaswami and pro Congress Navin Chawla, was widely reported in the national media, a silent leadership change in both the defence electronic units largely remained outside the focus of mainstream Indian media. (box) --(Features of Electronic Voting Machines--Source India Election Commission)
A major flaw in the working of EVM is that the election results cannot be physically verified as the digital system leaves no paper trail. Allover the world, especially in the USA, experts are questioning legitimacy of flawed digital voting system and demanding governments to introduce Voter Verified Paper Records. In the Indian electronic voting machine system, as in some other countries, there is no paper record of the votes and a voter cannot verify the accuracy of the digital record before casting his vote. Some Experts have hinted at major flaws in the indigenous electronic voting process that leaves an ordinary voter absolutely in the dark whether his e-vote is "really" recorded in the account of his favourite candidate. Media reports from certain constituencies in Kerala and other states indicated that the voting machines were recording votes cast in the name of one candidate in the account of rival candidates! Was it just the tip of an ice berg or isolated incidents due to technical glitches? Nothing more is heard about the faulty rigged EVMs that were recording votes cast in the name of one candidate going to the rival candidates and only time will reveal the reality. The UPA alliance low moral standing was exposed during the "note for vote" drama staged in the Indian Parliament during the no confidence motion after the left parties withdrew support in the name of Indo-USA Nuclear deal. (K S Rajasekhara Rao, who superannuated on 30th April..2009 former Chairman & Managing Director of Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad, Examining EVMs__courtesy the Hindu)
While nothing is heard about the reasons for such malfunctioning or rigged electronic voting machines there is ample reason to argue that everything was not fair with the use of 1.5 million EVMs in Indian elections for the 49th Parliamentary Election, which was crucial for many reasons. The EVMS made by two defence companies in India under the strict government control and their source codes and technical details are not revealed to the public.. EVM Malfunctioning was reported in other states too. Was there a big fraud involving the Indian Government machinery to rig the elections in favour of the ruling party? There are enough reasons to suspect so. The EVM process codes, not so open to the media or independent verification can easily be manipulated...Such large scale rigging of electronic voting machines did happen in the US during the November 2004 reelection of George W. Bush. Some other European countries too are not using electronic voting machines for obvious reasons.. A leading politician had in fact demonstrated how an EVM can be fudged in favour of one candidate against the rest (Read How to Tampter with voting machines (Right top column)
The EVM officials claim that the machines are smarter than the previous versions and records the votes with exact time that the voter cast his or her vote. Since 2000 the Bharat Electronics Ltd (Bhel) supplied 650,000 EVMS and for the 2009 elections it made 102,000 EVMs, all supplied by January 2009. Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) Hydrabad supplied 78,000 machines with the improved features.
<b>Features of Electronic Voting Machines</b>
http://www.keralamonitor.com/gifs/EVM_Features.pdf