ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA
NIRVACHAN SADAN, ASHOKA ROAD, NEW DELHI-IIOOOI
No.51/8/1 6/9/2017-EMS
Dated: 11 March,2017
To,
Shri Satish Chandra Misra,
Natioual General Secretary,
4, Curudwara Rakabganj Road,
New Delhi-l10001.
Subject: concerns raised about manipuration of EVMs by experts of technology and
software field hired by BJp -reg.
Sir,
I am directed to refer to your letter dated I1.03.2017, on the subject matter,
and to
state that tlre Commission has duly considered your said letter. It
is stated that the Commission has
been successfully Lrsing EVMs since 2000 in every election in
the Country and have full
confidence on the absolute credibility of ECl-EVMs.Credibility of EVMs has been successfullv
recognized by the CoLrrts on several occasions.
ECI-EVMs were endorsed by a technical expert subcommittee appointed by the
Government of India at the initiative of the Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms in
1990.
This Comrnittee was headed by Prof. S. Sarnpath, then Chairman, Recruitment
and Assessment
centre (RAC), Defence Research and Development organization, with prof. p.v.
Indiresan, then
with IIT' Delhi and Dr. c. Rao Kasarbada. the then Director, Electronics
Research and
Developrnent Center, Trivandrum as members. Subsequently,
the Commission has been
consulting a group of technical experts corrprising (Late) Prof. p.v.
Indiresan (member of the
earlier cornmittee), Prof. D.T. Shahani and Prof. A.K. Agarwala
of IIT Delhi, on all EVM related
technical issues' ln November, 2010, the commission has expanded
its Technical Expert
committee by including two more experts, namely, Prof D.K.
Sharma from Department of
Electrical Engineerirrg, IIT of Mumbai and Prof. RajatMoona from
Depaftment of Computer
Science ard Engineeri,g, IIT of Kanpur (,orv Director General,
C-DAC).
Since their introduction in the year 1982 on pilot basis, EVMs
were used in all bye-
elections/Ceneral Elections to Parliarnentarl, & Legislative Assemblies
held since 2000 and in
country rvide General Elections to the Lok Sabha in 2004 arrd
2009. The use of EVMs was
preceded by long rariging political. technical and administrative
consultations. Independent
committccs and Technical Experts have endorsed the machine
time and again. various preventive
and precrtrtionary steps have been put in place by the Commission
for the operation, maintenance
and storrqe of the EVMs. The Election Commission has firm conviction
and complete satisfaction
that EV,N'ls cannot be tampered with. The Election Commission
of India believes that the use of
EVMs has heiped to prevent scveral electoratr malpractices and resulted in the more efficient
conduct of elcctions.
In the past, various Courts have upheld the use of EVMs. The Madras Lligh Couft, after
elaborate co,sideratron of the issue in a batch of petitions in 2001, rejected
allegations that the
the use of these
EVMs could be tampered with. In tire year 2002, the Kerala Fligh Court upheld
as 'a national pride'.
machines. The Kamataka High Cour1, in its ruling in2004, hailed the EVM
The Mumbai High court in a decision in 2005 came to similar conclusion
aftcr examining some
experts.
Technical Security of EVMs used by ECI
(a) The machine is both mechanically and electronicaily protected to prevent any
is burnt into a
tampering/manipulation. The plogramme (software) used in these machines
One Time programmable/Masked chip (Hardware) so that it cannot be altered
or tampered
with. Further these machines are not networked either by wire or by wireless to any other
machine or system. Therefore, there is no possibility of its data comrption.
(b) The software of EVMs is developed in-house by BEL a Defence Ministry PSU and ECIL
an Atomic Energy Ministry's PSU independently'
(c) The vote can be recorded by an elector from the ballot unit only after the Presiding Officer
enables the ballot on the Control Unit, the machine does not receive
any signal from
outside at anY time.
(d) During production in the factory, functional testing is done by production group as per the
laiddownqualityplanandperformancetestprocedures.
(e) Samples of EVMs from production batches are regularly checked for functionality by
unit within the manufacturing firms.
euality Assurance Group, which is an independent
as dynamic coding
(f) Certain additional features were introduced in 2006 in ECI-EVMs such
between Ballot Unit and Control Unit, installation of real time clock,
installation of full
display system and date and time stamping of every key pressing in EVM'
Complete Procedural SecuritY
The Commission has put in place an elaborate administrative system of measures and
procedural checks-and-balances aimed at prevention of any possible misuse or
procedural
lapses.These safeguards are implemented transparently with the involvement of political parties,
candidates and their representatives at every stage to build their confidence
on efficacy and
safeguards are: -
reliability of EVMs, as they are actually representatives of electors. These
(a) Before every election a first level checking (FLC) is done for every EVM to be used
in the
election by the engineers of the manufacturers in the presence
of political parties'
represeiltatives. Any malfunctioning EVM is kept separately and is not used in the
election.
(b) Manufacturers certify at the time of FLC that all components in the EVM are original.
After this, the plastic cabinet of Control Unit of the EVM is sealed using a "Pink Paper
Seal", which is signed by representatives of political parties. After this, the plastic
cabinet of control unit of the EVMs cannot be opened and there is no access to any
component of inside of EVMs.
(c) At the time of FLC, at least 1000 votes are cast by thc representatives on So/"of EVMs
randomly selected by them. A printout of the results of mock poll as well as a sequential
print out of every vote polled during the mock poll at the time of First Level Checking of
EVMs are taken out for at least 5o/o of EVMs and shown to the representatives of political
parties. Representatives of political parties are allowed to pick machines randomly for this
purpose. In rest of the machines, number of votes polled during the mock poll are to the
satisfaction of the representatives of political parties. Representatives of political parties
are allowed to do mock poll themselves.
(d) Subsequently, EVMs are further randomized twice once for allocation of machines to
assembly constituencies and second to polling stations in the presence of candidates or
their representatives before they are distributed for use in individual polling stations.
Such lists of EVM containing serial number of EVM allocated to particular polling station
are provided to the political par[ies/candidates.
(e) Candidates and their representatives are allowed to conduct mock polls on EVMs at
the time of candidate setting and also before the actual poll on the poll day to satisfy
themselves about the satisfactory functioning of EVMs being used.
(f) Once the candidate setting is done the Ballot Unit of the EVM is also sealed with
thread/Pink Paper seals so that nobody has access to the inside of the Ballot Unit too.
These Pink seals also bear signatures of representatives of political parties/candidate.
(g) A printout of the results of mock poll as well as a sequential print out of every vote polled
during the mock poll at the time of Preparation of EVMs and candidate setting are also
taken out for at least 5o/o of EVMs and shown to the representatives of political parties.
Representatives of political parties are allowed to pick machines randomly for this
purpose.
(h) On the poll day, a mock poll by casting at least 50 votes is conducted at every polling
stations in. the presence of the representatives of the candidates/polling agents with
their signature and a certificate to that effect is obtained from every Presiding
0fficer.
(i)Afterthemockpollisover,anotherthreadsealan<lgleenpapersealsareputontheEVM of
on the EVM' except those' which are used for the conduct
to blockaccess to all buttons
poll.Thesepaprsealsandthreadsealsareallowedtotresignedbythepollingagents.
Afterthepollisover,thePresidingofficerpressesthe..Close,,buttonontheEVMinthe
presenceofpollingagents.Thereafter,novotescanbepolledintheEVM"
fi)Afterthis,theentireEVMissealed.Candidatesandtheiragentsareallowedtoput
theirsignaturesontheseals,whichtheycancheckfortheintactnessofthesealbefore
counting. are also
stored' pending for counting
to this, the strong rooms where EVMs are
(k) In addition are
round the clock. The candidates and their representatives
seared and watched
keep a watch
seals on the strong rooms. They also allowed to
a*owed to put their own
room'
round the clock on the strong
opportunity to participate
of candidates of all politicar parties are given
(l) The representatives poll' etc'
of FLc, preparation of EvMs before poll, mock
in all the above occasion
Judicial Pronouncements .r\r\r in the
of EVM 1^^. been r:
has *oen raised before vanous High courts
(a) The issue of possible tampering
past[EPNo.2goflgggbeforetheKarnatakaHighCourt,W.P.No.3346of200landother
connectedpetitionsbeforetheMadrasHighCourt,andEPNo.lof2004beforetheBombay
going into arl aspects of the
(Nagpur Bench)1. Au the three High courts after
High court of EvMs at
the administrative measures involved in the use
technologicar soundness and
held that the EvMs in India are credibre, reriable and totally
erections in India, have a
Karnataka High court held
that "This invention is undoubtedly
tamperproof. The Hon,ble pride"' Both the
and computer technology and a national
great achievement in the electronic
of EvMs in election has
court and the Madras High court observed that use
Karnataka High
The Hon'b'e Madras
over the system of ballot paper/ballot box election-
several advantages
HighCourtalsocategoricallyruledoutanyquestionoftamperingoftheE,VMs.The
followingobservationsmadebytheMadrasHighCourtmaybetakennoteof: EVMs cannot
or bugs for the reason that the
.,There is also no question of introducing any virus
becomparedtopersonalcomputers.Theprogrammingincomputers,assuggested,hasno having connections
The computer wourd have inherent limitations
bearing with the EvMs. programme but
their very design, they may allow the alteration of the
through lnternet and by
is entirely a different system'"
independent units and the programme in EVM
the EvMs are
(b)InoneofthecasesaSdirectedbytheHon,bleHighCourtofKeralainElectionPetition
No.4/200l,theprocessofdetectingvotescastbyimpersonatorswascarriedoutbeforethe
Constituency
of General Election from 125-Evavipuram Assembly
Hon,ble Court in the case
on
dated 6.2.2002 had recorded its appreciation
.in Kerala in 200i. The High court in its order
,fhe judgment of the Kerala I{igh court in the said Election
the efficiency of the mechanism.
petition was upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in
civil Appeal (AIR 2003 sC227l)'
ThefullCommissionmaderepeatedvisittoUttarPradeshandUttarakhandandmetthe
regard to
your party' No one raised any objection with
representatives of all parties, including
any complaints
The commission has thus not received
functioning of EVMs at these meetings.
in uttar pradesh and uttrakhand with regard to your allegation of
during entire process of erections
grave maniPulation of EVMs'
Asexplainedabove,theCommissionhasputinplaceelaboratetechnicaland
error-free functioning of E'vMs in elections'
administrative safeguards to ensule
with the tamper proof functioning of the E'cI-
The commission is thus fully satisfied
once to those alleging the
Although the commission has offered opportunities more than
EVMs.
that the EVM used
of EvM, no one has been abre to demonstrate to the commission
tamperab,ity
be manipulated or tampered with'
in the country's election process, can
has been fully complied with in uttar
Pradesh and
The prescribed administrative process
of the representatives of political parties/candidates'
uttrakhand erections in the presence
the prayers
found any merit in your allegations and
The commission has, therefore, not
made in your letter under reply are
not legally tenable'
tully
'usudan GuPta)
Under SecretarY
