ISAS Working Papers

The paper examines the controversy over the reliability of India’s Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Since the national elections of 2009, there have been allegations that the 1.4 million small stand-alone EVMs can be – and according to some protagonists, have been – doctored or rigged to allow election results to be falsified. The paper outlines the charges and describes the formal procedures under which the EVMs have operated for more than 10 years. It concludes that there is no convincing evidence that the machines have been rigged in India. It points out that any comparison with the networked, centralised electronic voting systems of the United States (US) and Europe, which have fallen into disfavour, are inappropriate. However, it is clear that if technically skilled people were to have ready and widespread access to EVMs, they could introduce external components that would enable the machines to be manipulated. Such manipulation would require large numbers of trained and reasonably adept conspirators who would have to escape the notice of or suborn both election officials and agents of rival parties. This is an improbable scenario. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has not however, met the allegations as ably and openly as it might. The Commission should not only be constantly testing, monitoring and improving existing EVMs, but also researching and costing methods that could add a paper trail to the current paperless process that could be used to verify election results.