The EVM challenge

THE Election Commission has agreed, much belatedly, to allow political parties an attempt at hacking electronic voting machines (EVMs). Beginning June 3, the programme is in response to doubts being expressed by certain parties regarding the inviolability of the machines at the heart of our democratic system. Any effort to reinforce trust in the crucial piece of equipment can only be welcomed. The Chief Election Commissioner rightly stressed that the “hacking challenge” should not be seen as a matter of prestige, rather an exercise to reinforce the EVMs’ reliability. That should be the approach on both sides, and the smallest of lessons learnt or weaknesses spotted should be recognised and acted upon.

Certain conditions and rules have been laid down for the challenge. The foremost is that the hackers would not be allowed to make any physical changes within the machine. That is a fair condition because such a change would not be possible under the actual administrative and security measures that apply to the conduct of polling. However, the commission may consider two alterations in the challenge rules. One, it may give access to an actual machine in advance to the hackers so that they may study it thoroughly to identify vulnerable spots. This is both fair and logical because it is reasonable to expect that somewhere in the country, over the years, unscrupulous elements would have got access to real machines. The second change is that the media may be allowed in to make it a public exercise. There are bound to be different versions subsequently, and this will help make the process more transparent.

More important than the EVMs, what is at stake here is the credibility of our electoral system, and people’s faith in it. Towards that end, the EC would do well to revisit all of its procedures of calling, scheduling, securing, and holding the elections. During elections, it should go out of its way to not only be but also seem to be fair. The country cannot afford to have doubts cast on the integrity of our electoral system. Let India be an example of holding the most trustworthy elections.