The Election Commission of India had introduced Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) on experimental basis for the first time in 16 Assembly Constituencies in the States of Madhya Pradesh (5), Rajasthan (5) and NCT of Delhi (6) at the General Elections to the respective Legislative Assemblies held in November, 1998.
EVMs were introduced to complete the election process in a peaceful manner without much delay. In the early days probably a decade ago, booth capturing was common in the states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh etc., and this menace not only disrupted the election process but also was responsible for manipulation of results.The introduction of EVMs and their widespread use in day to day elections has put a fullstop to the manipulation of results. But EVMs are also not completely tamper proof and this is a matter that has been questioned by many civil society activists and people's representatives of various states.The same has also been a matter of intense media scrutiny and has been discussed at various forums.It is a common practice of opposition parties that they complain that the party in power has used its clout and position to fix the results in its favour to retain the same "Kursi".
I am writing this blog in the interest of all political parties, people's representatives, civil society activists, political party members, various State and Central Govt. organisations and the public at large. I have collected the following checklist from Mr. Hari Prasad, a corporate guy from Andhra Pradesh who had been jailed for proving in public domain that the EVMs are not 100 % tamper proof.
All the above mentioned stakeholders should read this and keep the following points in mind while checkout whether or not the EVMs have been tampered. The following letter and points should be read carefully to stop as well as detect EVM tampering.
The CEO,
Andhra Pradesh
From,
V.V.RAO
Convener Election watches,
National coordinator VeTA,
Sub; Seeking information- as a check list - for verifiability, transparency, accountability in EVMs.
Sir,
In continuation of my letter date 2nd may, seeking information about the EVMs used in Kadapa by-elections, I was surprised to see that there is no proper response from your side. After my telephonic talk with the collector and joint collector of Kadapa, I could assess that E.C is unable to even provide basic information about the Master Stock Register and the movement registers of EVMs, which is essential while dealing with these electronic devises. This information should be kept open for all the political party contestants and the polling agents during first and second level of checks in EVMs. As an election watch activist I would once again, like to insist on seeking information pertaining to EVMs which is very important for the free and fare conduction of elections.
As you are aware in the last bi-elections the TRS party has filed a case in high court against the E.C using the EVMs with non transparent behavior. Later to avoid the EVMs they have even filed more than 64 nominations in several constituencies. In this context the E.C was forced to conduct the by-election with paper ballot in 5 out of 12 constituencies. No contestant or a political party in the country should feel that it is the EVM that is manipulating his results, against the verdict of the voter. To avoid this E.C should be more transparent, allow the verification properly and ready to give information while dealing with the EVMs.
As a part of the whistle blower activity, I am cautioning the election commission to seriously concentrate on the below mentioned questioner and provide the information if you feel you are ready for conduction of free and fare election.
CHECK LIST; Every EVM should and must be accompanied with the fallowing information to ensure that they are free from the tampering, in case of E.C unable to provide information now election is questionable in future.
(Master Stock Register)
· Name of State/Union Territory:
· Name of District:
· Name of sub-division/taluka:
· Address of Warehouse:
· Name of the in-charge with designation (Warehouse in-charge should not be less than MRO rank)-
1. Total No. of EVMs in Master Stock Register-.
2. Total No. of CUs outside the warehouse-
a. For poll-.
b. For Training-
c. For Voter awareness-
d. For maintenance-.
e. For diagnostic test-.
3. Total No. of CUs in the warehouse-
4. Total No. of BUs outside the warehouse-
a. For poll-
b. For Training-.
c. For Voter awareness-
d. For maintenance-
e. For diagnostic test-.
5. Total No. of BUs in the warehouse-
Part- A (Control Unit)
· CU ID No
· Box No.-
· Name of Manufacturer-
· Year of Manufacture-
· Date of Receipt-
· Receipt Challan No.-
· Date on receipt challan-
· Name and designation of receiver-
· Name of the receiver & contact-
· Signature of Warehouse-in- charge-
· Present Status (Available in warehouse), If not available then reason thereof-
· Date of movement from warehouse if any-
Part-B (Ballot Unit)
· BU ID No-
· Box No-
· Name of Manufacturer-
· Year of Manufacture-
· Date of Receipt-
· Receipt Challan No-
· Date on receipt challan-
· Name and designation of receiver-
· Signature of receiver-
· Signature of Warehouse-in- charge
· Present Status (Available in warehouse), If not available then reason thereof-
· Date of movement from warehouse if any-
1. Who is the deputy Election official, Election supervisor and warehouse in-charge of EVMS?
2. How many ware houses are there in cuddapah district?
3. How many Master stock registers are available?
4. Are all the MSR are certified by the concerned? Are they been entered in the EVM Ledgers?
5. DEO certificate on EVM stocks and maintenance?
6. Physical verification reports warehouse wise?(signed copies of district election officer)
7. Are the storages (warehouse) are exclusive for EVMs? Are they private or government? Are the warehouses located at district or tehsil HQs?
8. EVM warehouse should have only one entry point. Is it followed?
9. Entry of EVM storage warehouse must be secured by a double lock system, which should be held jointly by two separate officers to be nominated by the DEO. One of them will be not below the rank of Sub-Divisional Magistrate. Is it followed?
10. Who are the persons/guards appointed as security for each warehouse?
11. How many times the warehouse is opened till date and under whose instructions and the reason for opening it? Are representatives of political parties are present at the time of opening and signed the records, who are they?
12. Is there a log book maintained to record the events of warehouse activity opening & closing?
13. Quarterly verification reports on EVM Stocks?
14. First level check report of EVMs allocated for bye-elections?
15. List of people Who all are allowed to do diagnostic check and what are the procedures adopted to authorize people from outside who handle the EVMs for various tests. (like manufacturers or other technicians)?
16. Is the unique-id printed on the CU box is the same that is written into the eeproms( votes storage memory) at the time of manufacturing? Has it been verified every time as part of the FLC procedure before the political parties?
17. How many diagnostic check response messages are present in the present EVMs and are the political parties and observers are been informed about these messages to cross check the authenticity?
18. What is the scientific authentication process of the software program inside the EVM other than mock poll? And has it been done by ECI till date if so at what intervals?
· Why not ECI make transparent of all these records in their website similar to all other details?
Kindly provide the information as early as possible so as to use this information for verification and transparency check of EVMs in Kadapa.
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