Blaming The EVM - A Stressbuster For The Losing Side?

Blaming others on one's own defeat has always been the very nature of human beings since time immemorial. Most of us feel comfortable blaming others for our failures rather than introspecting ourselves about the reasons for the plight. Despite this being an inherent behaviour of human beings, it might cause severe repercussions if dragged into the World's Largest Democracy.

General elections for 543 seats in the Lower House (Lok Sabha) is on the doorsteps of every Indian. It is a several week long (not any less than a festival) occasion in which every individual crossing the age of 18 years will celebrate his/her voting rights. One vote each from an eligible voter will decide the future of the country for next 5 years. While the political parties are trying their best spending several thousands Indian Rupees to advertise and campaign in their favour, the major chunk of young voters are analysing the correct choice these days to not let their supreme power go in vain.

India is a democratic country and the people have a choice to elect a representative from each region. Since independence, everyone of this country is enjoying his/her voting rights. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is entitled to hold most of the elections in the country and declare their results accordingly on time.

Article 324 of the Constitution of India set up the Election Commission as the main body to control and hold elections as an all-India commission. However, it's also important to note that small elections within villages and towns aren't under it. Instead, they are under a separate State Election Commission.

Previously, votes were casted on ballot papers; however, due to their inherent difficulties, ECI decided to do away with ballot system and commissioned the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in 1989. The voting process suddenly became easy with less time required for counting the votes. 

However, due to the inability of having any physical proofs (viz. in form of papers slips) of the casted votes, many (especially, the losing candidates) started raising doubts about the correctness of the number of votes casted in their favour. Many influential politicians started questioning the EVM and it has now become the order of the results day.

Following the allegations, the ECI agreed to a forensic lab test of the EVMs on the order of the Bombay High Court in 2017, of which the report came out claiming that no evidence of tampering or altering the components has been found. Now, ECI have gathered scientific data as well to back their claim up. Moreover, ECI had organised an open hackathon for the political parties to tamper with the EVMs and (as expected) not a single party turned up. Also, for further transparency of the system, ECI has installed Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines in several elections since 2013. A little portion of the votes are verified based on the VVPAT slips for doubt clearance since installing of VVPAT machines on all the polling booths isn't economically viable. 

Every election news that we hear now-a-days, accompany at least one news about someone blaming the EVMs and accusing them of being tampered with. However, it is a matter of irony that the same person when gains majority through the same EVMs never questions about their efficiency or correctness. Now, different political parties are even demanding elections to be held in the Old School - ballot system which is not at all entertained by the ECI till date.

Technology has evolved a lot during all these years. We trust it for different activities in our daily lives without giving a second thought and our trust pays off in almost all cases. As such, we must gather up enough courage to trust the digital voting system as there are no evidences of manipulation of results due to tampering of these devices till date.

On a final note, these allegations and all the blame game seems to be for the preparation of ground for showing unacceptance for the foreseen defeat and a stressbuster rather than a debatable topic. History has always been the proof that the ones blaming those EVMs will be on the another side as soon as they become the face of the nation. India is the largest democracy of the world and the way elections are held here by the ECI with timely results surely deserves a standing ovation.

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