New Delhi: Following questions from the Congress party alleging irregularities in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and their batteries during the counting of votes for the Haryana assembly elections last week, the Election Commission (EC) said on Tuesday (October 15) that the machines are “safe” and “robust”.
Chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar while announcing the dates of the upcoming Jharkhand and Maharashtra assembly elections also said that the records of the last 15 to 20 elections show that it cannot be that EVMs are faulty when results are not favourable.
“See the last 15 to 20 elections. It [EVMs] is giving result after result differently. It cannot be that when the results don’t suit you, then it is working wrongly,” he said.
Kumar said that the EC had received 20 complaints and would respond to each on a fact-by-fact basis, but that the first level of checking (FLC) for EVMs takes place about five to six months before the elections.
“I am not going into individual cases, but FLC, randomisation, second-level checking, storage, taking it out of storage, commissioning, putting it back in storage, then taking it out on polling day, keeping it at the booth through polling, then sealing, then putting in storage, then taking it out on counting day – through all of this, at every stage, a political party or its candidate or [its] agents are present,” he said.
He continued: “Five to six days before voting, EVMs are commissioned when symbols are loaded and batteries are placed. The battery also has the agent’s signature. After commissioning, it goes to the strongroom, there is a double lock and then three-layer security is placed, including CAPF [Central Armed Police Forces] and observers.
“On polling day also a similar process is done and all of this is videographed and a candidate’s agents are present. Each machine’s number is also shared and tallied once it reaches the booth. At the booth, they are asked to do mock polling to check. Some put 50 votes, while some others say they don’t want to check by mock polling. A booth can have five candidates or even 20.
“After the whole day’s voting, again signatures are taken, how many votes are polled are shown through Form 17C. How much will we show? Is there any other process which has higher participation and public disclosure?
“After this, the EVM is kept in strongrooms and on counting day, it is taken out through barricading paths. Round-by-round checking takes place. There is a provision to object to any of this at any stage. Which has not happened. So all this is safe and robust,” he said.
“Moreover, see the last 15 to 20 elections. It is giving result after result differently. It cannot be that when the results don’t suit you, then it is working wrongly. But we will reply to every complaint individually and also publish FAQs.”
Last week the Congress alleged that during the counting of votes for the Haryana elections, in which the grand old party was defeated by the BJP by 11 seats, that there were irregularities in EVMs.
In several counting stations where the party lost, the machines indicated their batteries were 99% charged, while in those where it won, the battery level was around 60 or 70%, the party had claimed.
Kumar said that EVMs use single-use batteries and are not charged everyday like mobile phones.
“This [EVM] contains a single-use battery. It is not a mobile battery that is charged everyday, but like a calculator battery that can run for years. When it [EVM] is first put to use, it shows the percentage of charge and output, which is in terms of voltage. It requires very low voltage. It is initially marked as ‘OK’ and 99% charged. After commissioning, there is mock polling even at booths.
“Every booth has a different number of candidates. If the voltage falls below 7.4, then it starts showing actuals. That is how it is designed. When it reaches 5.8 it gives a signal that it will now shut down. We will give a detailed FAQ on this and respond to contesting candidates and parties, with respect. We have also asked all 20 ROs [returning officers] to document everything, when it was commissioned, who was present, and give end-to-end details. We will compile the response and make it public,” he said.
Kumar also responded to Congress leader Rashid Alvi’s statement earlier on Tuesday, when he alleged that if Israel could use pagers and walkie talkies as bombs to hit targets 600 kilometres away, then EVMs could not stand a chance.
“Now people are raising questions that if people can be killed using pagers, then why not EVMs? Pagers are connected but EVMs are not,” said Kumar.
Following the Haryana assembly election results, the Congress had called it “totally unexpected and unacceptable”, and alleged that it was a victory of the system and a “defeat of democracy”.
According to the EC’s FAQ section on EVMs, EVMs do not require external power supply in order for the machines to function in areas that do not have electricity.
“EVM and VVPAT [voter-verified paper audit trail] do not require any external power supply. EVM and VVPAT run on their own battery/power-packs supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited/Electronics Corporation of India Limited. EVM runs on a power pack of 7.5 volts and VVPAT runs on a power-pack of 22.5 volts.”
The EC in its FAQs also states that the power packs of the EVMs’ control units (CUs) and VVPATs are periodically monitored.
“The power packs of CU and VVPAT are periodically monitored and the balance power status is displayed by the control unit as “high”, “medium”, “low”, “marginal” and “change battery” along with the percentage.
“The power packs are replaced from the “reserve” power packs available with the sector officers when the “change battery” status is displayed by the CU.”
While the CEC sought to allay concerns around EVMs’ batteries, he did not respond to reports after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections that noted a large spike between the votes polled and the final voter turnout as was pointed out by the Vote for Democracy report and the Association for Democratic Reforms.
