The Big Story: Machine wars

Alleging faulty electronic voting machines has been the strategy of almost every political party that has lost an election since the machines were first introduced in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls.

The latest controversy over the machines, which have greatly simplified the process of polling and counting votes, erupted when Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party’s sweep in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on March 11. She accused the BJP of tampering with the machines to manufacture the verdict and dared the party to hold fresh polls with ballot papers if it was so confident about its victory.

Days before Mayawati fired this salvo against the machines, protests erupted in Maharashtra after the results of the municipal polls were declared. In several areas, losing candidates claimed more votes had been counted than the number that had actually been cast. In Mumbai, independent candidate Shrikant Shirsat was stunned when he polled absolutely no votes, even though he had voted for himself.

Since March 11, when the results of the Assembly polls were declared, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have also joined the call for a thorough scrutiny of the machines.

The problem is the selective nature of the accusations. For instance, while the Congress has questioned the BJP’s sweep in Uttar Pradesh, it does not want anyone to cast doubts about its thumping victory in Punjab, where it won a overwhelming majority with 77 of the 117 seats.

The BJP too has blamed the machines when it has fared poorly. Its senior leader LK Advani spoke about the danger of compromised voting machines when the party lost the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. The party’s Rajya Sabha member, Subramanian Swamy, had moved the Supreme Court against the machines.

Such accusations have the ability to undermine trust in elections, especially if they are only made after polls and are forgotten later. The ideal way for political parties to deal with the questions around the machines is to initiate a debate in the Parliament and work out a process of comprehensive scrutiny.

While political parties may play politics with the machines, the Election Commission of India bears the responsibility of allaying fears about their integrity. Even as it reiterated on Thursday that the machines are infallible, it would do well to consider demands for an open audit. After all, many developed countries have tried electronic voting and then given up on the system.

It should also move ahead to swiftly implementing a system to tally the final count of votes with the voter-verified papers, a system that was used across all constituencies in Punjab whereby every vote produced a receipt to confirm that it indeed was registered to the party it was meant to. On Friday, the commission said it would cost Rs 3,174 crore to introduce this system and would take 30 months to implement after the funds are released.

The commission must do all it can to scotch doubts about electronic voting machines. After all, a foolproof election process is vital to democracy.

The Big Scroll

  • In this interview, former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi talks about electronic voting machines and whether they can be rigged. 
  • Many developed countries have done away with electronic voting as they have been unreliable and prone to manipulation, reports Shoaib Daniyal
  • In Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati blamed the voting machines despite retaining her vote share in the Assembly polls. 

Punditry

  1. In this data analysis for The Wire, Anoop Sadanandan argues that a leaked exit poll following the first phase of Uttar Pradesh elections may have tilted the scales in favour of the BJP. 
  2. In The Hindu, Sulakshana Nandi saysthe attempts to popularise injectable contraceptives show how the government is trying to control women’s fertility than strengthening reproductive rights. 
  3. In this piece on Mint, Sudipto Mundle looks at the possible economic reforms the Narendra Modi government could initiate following its dramatic mandate in Uttar Pradesh. 

Giggles

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