Electronic Voting Machines (EVM’s)

We have used EVM’s for the last two general elections – 2004 and yet again in 2009. The idea of going to EVM’s from a paper ballot is obvious – moving from low-tech to hi-tech to enable faster counting and better organization of election process. However, the bigger question is – Are they right for India?

EVM’s are suppose to deliver accuracy, transparency and more than all – tamper-proof by anyone or any entity. The very idea of going to Identification based Electronic voting was to provide more transparancy. The current EVM’s are obviously tamper-able by anyone who knows a bit of technology as demonstrated recently to Election Commission. Whether or not EVM’s have been tampered is not the question, but giving a tamper proof voting mechanism is the basic right of every voting citizen.

Now, we need to either go back to paper voting or make tamper-proof voting machines. The software that runs behind the machines should be an open source code and should be determined that nobody can tamper the results of voting. With such a huge talent of software programmers in India, it should n’t be difficult.

However, I wonder what the process is to challenge the exisiting system and bring about corrections in the flaws of the current system. Where should we go for putting a stop to the current EVM’s or bring about a change in EVM’s?