Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'EVMs are the best' that was published in Newsband

EVMs are the best
The Election Commission is having the working of the Electronic Voting Machines corroborated by a paper audit trail. But funds will be required to procure voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. As many as 16 lakh VVPAT machines will be required. Hence an urgent release of funds is necessary.
There are enough procedural and technical safeguards to prevent large-scale tampering or manipulation of EVMs. Since 2006, elections have witnessed the use of upgraded EVMs — Model 2 machines. Model 3 machines produced after 2013 have additional features such as tamper detection. The addition of the VVPAT machine to the process is to allow for cross-checking of EVM results through a paper audit.
Studies show the introduction of EVMs has resulted in a drastic reduction in electoral fraud (rigging, stuffing of ballot boxes, etc.) and allowed for greater voter participation. The EVMs are cost-effective and less clumsy for the Election Commission when conducting an Election. But, for the Voter, the moment he / she presses the button, doubts arise in their minds as to what has been exactly registered. So long as the Election process is suspected of lack of transparency and genuineness, it will tell upon the confidence of the Nation in the institution of Democracy. It will have far reaching consequences in a vast and complex Nation like ours.
Even when ballot papers were used, allegations of booth-capturing, snatching of ballot boxes and many other violent attacks were common. The EVMs too have some weakness
Proceeding with high technicality, the government initiatives of UID (aadhar) could be well used for voting purpose also. Each and every individual possessing aadhar card have marked their fingerprints and the fingerprint data is readily available with the government. The data could be used to match the voter identity and nothing fairer could be done than tracking the record of every voter. This would automatically reduce a number of issues such as vote tampering, vote duplicacy etc. and a voter would be entitled by system to cast his vote only once. This would eventually bring in other benefits like cost saving on vote ink, and it would not even require an individual to carry his ID. Just come and finger press your vote.

EVM's are the best to conduct election with the least possible irregularities. 

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