No one in India is talking about eliminating the Indian Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) as these are undoubtedly tamper-proof; none can hack them or influence them using human or artificial intelligence. The current election gave a resounding thumbs-up to the faith 1.4 billion Indian citizens have in India’s EVMs.

Today, Mr Elon Musk has stated that “we should eliminate electronic voting machines”. Maybe he is talking only about the American democratic process and US Electronic Voting Machines, which may be unsafe and could be hacked.

His statement cannot apply to Indian EVMs. As per the last count, nearly 400 crore votes have been cast on EVMs in India, and not a single case of hacking has ever been proven. In fact, this massive sample size of 400 crores is the single largest scientific experiment ever undertaken in the world, with no proof of cheating.

The Election Commission of India says no incident of EVM tampering has ever been found, and Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said the EVMs just can’t be hacked. Even the Supreme Court has echoed the same.

An expert on EVMs, computer scientist Prof Rajat Moona, Director of IIT Gandhinagar, told NDTV, “India loves the tamper-proof domestically manufactured EVMs. The 2024 Festival of Democracy, where 642 million Indians voted digitally, shows that the unique EVMs are at the heart of free and fair voting in the world’s largest democracy, and no, they will not be eliminated from India anytime soon. 1.4 billion Indians trust the secure ecosystem that makes the swadeshi EVMs a clear winner.”

The world’s largest democracy started using EVMs in 1982, well before Mr Musk had even become a teenager; he was born in 1971. In this election, 5.5 million EVMs were deployed from the high Himalayas to the Great Nicobar Island, and the stunning results only made the Indian voter realise how reliable and robust the Indian election apparatus is, with the EVMs at the heart of the operation.

Problems due to “hanging chads” and networked EVMs made by the private sector being hacked are all stories that echo and emerge from US elections. None of this happened in the 2024 festival of democracy that India celebrated, choreographed by the very able and independent Election Commission of India.

Here are some of the reasons why Indian EVMs defy the logic Mr Musk propounds.

While pontificating and generalising about EVMs, Mr Musk says the “risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high”. Mr Musk, next time, please do not cancel your visit at the last moment; Indian election officials can easily show you how artificial intelligence and even human hacking of Indian EVMs is an impossibility.

Today, India uses the third generation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) or the M3 EVM machines. They are tamper-proof, and if tampered with, they go into a ‘Safety Mode’ and become inoperable. Each is a standalone device almost akin to a basic calculator. Even the latest third-generation EVMs-the M3 machines that the ECI is using-are not connected to the internet and cannot connect to Bluetooth or WiFi, making them impenetrable through remote devices, a big bugbear for hackers as today most hacking is done via the internet in connected devices.

“Indian EVMs are different from other EVMs in the world. The M3 EVMs have no connection to any other device, not even mains power supply,” asserts Prof. Dinesh K. Sharma, a specialist in microelectronics and solid-state electronics at the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay. “An EVM is a dedicated system designed for voting and not a general-purpose computing device with a loaded program for electronic voting,” Professor Sharma said. “Each EVM is a unique electronic island in itself, and this makes them super secure.”

Prof Moona, a well-known expert in computer science and cybersecurity, smart cards, and cyber-physical security, told NDTV that “No tampering has ever been recorded in Indian EVMs. They are an exceptional and user-friendly technology made by Indians for Indian people to suit the unique needs of Indian democracy.”

Prof Moona adds, “India invented the zero and in 1982, India became the world’s first country to use that ‘zero’ in electronic voting machines since electronics is all about zeroes and ones. In 2024, 642 million votes were cast on tamper-proof third-generation EVMs. So there should be no doubt that India, which is the mother of democracy and today an advanced digitally empowered democracy, was a pioneer in using electronic voting machines and remains the fountainhead of innovation for secure electoral voting.”

Even today, just about 25 countries in the world use digital voting. According to the Election Commission of India, the countries using EVMs are the USA, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Namibia, Nepal, Bhutan, Armenia, and Bangladesh, to name a few.

Globally, there are several types of digital voting. There is fully electronic voting like India has, and then there are some countries only the counting is electronic. There are some countries like Estonia that have started using internet-based remote voting, and some have internet-based voting at designated polling stations. Some use optical scanners, both networked and non-networked machines.

In most countries, electronic voting devices are made by private companies, which are considered less cyber secure compared to the government-owned facilities of India that manufacture the EVMs. The world’s most advanced country, the USA, uses several different forms of electronic voting and has no country-wide standard.

Many foreign experts have often complained that India’s EVMs are antiquated and need to be modernised. Experts at the ECI say sometimes being obsolete gives electronic technology that level of extra security since if one has to hack EVMs, then 5.5 million individual EVMs will have to be hacked, which is a near impossibility, and subsequently, the randomisation provides that additional security.

In addition, India’s elections today are the most secure and advanced since the same departments that helped make India’s atom bombs make the Electronic Voting Machines.

“The beauty of India’s EVMs is that they are under-designed for a 21st-century electronic gadget, and hence this makes them tamper-proof and hacking-resistant,” explains Prof Moona, who assisted the ECI in designing the EVMs.

No one in India is asking for the elimination of EVMs; the mute machines gave a clean and eco-friendly election of the kind the world has never seen before.

Prof Moona says, “The USA can learn the art and science of conducting free, fair, and insurrection-free elections from India!”

(Pallava Bagla is the Science Editor of NDTV)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
 

New Delhi:

First introduced in 2004, electronic voting machines include two units — control and balloting — which are connected by a cable.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has triggered a debate on the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs). While citing concern over potential vulnerabilities of hacking, the tech billionaire, on Saturday, said that the use of electronic voting machines should be eliminated.

Mr Musk on X (formerly Twitter) said, “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.”

We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high. https://t.co/PHzJsoXpLh

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2024

Soon enough former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar countered Mr Musk’s statement claiming it as a “huge sweeping generalisation” which holds no truth. Take a look at his post here:

This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. @elonmusk ‘s view may apply to US n other places – where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines.

But Indian EVMs are custom… https://t.co/GiaCqU1n7O

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar ???????? (@RajeevRC_X) June 16, 2024

After this senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared a post in support of Elon Musk. Calling EVMs a “black box”, Mr Gandhi wrote, “EVMs in India are a ‘black box,’ and nobody is allowed to scrutinise them. Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability.”

EVMs in India are a “black box,” and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them.

Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process.

Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability. https://t.co/nysn5S8DCFpic.twitter.com/7sdTWJXOAb

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 16, 2024

Amidst the online debate, let us take a look at how EVMs work:

Features of EVMs

First introduced in 2004, electronic voting machines include two units — control and balloting — which are connected by a cable. While the control unit stays with a polling officer, the balloting unit is kept inside the compartment where citizens cast their votes.

In a bid to provide privacy to the voters, the authorities make sure that the balloting unit is covered on all sides. At the time of voting, the polling officer after verifying the identity of the citizens presses the ballot button, which enables them to cast their vote.

EVM’s Ballot Unit

The ballot unit carries the names of the candidates and the respective party symbols, along with blue buttons next to them. As per their choices, the voter has to press the blue button of the candidate whom they want to elect.

EVM’s Control Unit

The control unit that stays with the polling officer includes multiple buttons. Of them all, one is titled “ballot”, which is pressed to indicate that the control unit is ready to record a single vote. Every time the officer presses this ballot button, a red light titled “busy” is turned on.

In addition, when the green light on the ballot unit is switched on, it signals that the machine is ready for voting. Then the voter goes on to press the blue button next to the name of the candidate of his/her choice.

It must be noted that the ballot unit also has a Braille script for visually impaired voters.

After a citizen has cast a vote, the control unit emits a beep sound, indicating that the voting is complete. On top of a control unit, there is one LED screen that shows the total number of votes recorded on it.

Once all votes have been recorded on the control unit, the polling officer presses a button on the side, which seals the unit. A button titled “result” is used on the day of counting to calculate all the votes.

Moreover, there is also a “clear” button that can be used to erase all data from the control unit.

New Delhi:

Tesla chief Elon Musk and former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar have started a debate on X (formerly Twitter) on whether the world should switch to paper voting and discard electronic voting machines (EVMs) over possible risks of being hacked and manipulated.

Later, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also joined in, backing Mr Musk’s apprehension of EVMs.

Mr Musk set the ball rolling with his post questioning EVMs’ reliability, referring to media reports that Puerto Rico’s elections saw voting irregularities in hundreds of EVMs.

“Luckily, there was a paper trail so the problem was identified and vote tallies corrected,” independent US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr said in a post on X.

Mr Chandrasekhar, who headed the electronics and information technology ministry in the previous government, in his reply to Mr Musk indicated the X owner’s comment made it seem like “no one can build secure digital hardware.”

The former Union Minister said he’d be happy to run a tutorial for Mr Musk on how to build a secure EVM.

“This is a huge sweeping generalisation statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. Elon Musk’s view may apply to the US and other places – where they use regular compute platforms to build internet-connected voting machines,” Mr Chandrasekhar said in a reply to Mr Musk’s post that EVMs weren’t reliable.

This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong. @elonmusk ‘s view may apply to US n other places – where they use regular compute platforms to build Internet connected Voting machines.

But Indian EVMs are custom… https://t.co/GiaCqU1n7O

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar (@RajeevRC_X) June 16, 2024

India used EVMs in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. Many political leaders, mostly from the Opposition parties, had said the same thing as Mr Musk has said, i.e. EVMs need to be replaced with paper voting, for any doubt in voters’ minds can wipe out trust from the entire democratic exercise.

Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav Join EVM Debate

Mr Gandhi, too, has been a fierce critic of EVMs. “EVMs in India are a ‘black box,’ and nobody is allowed to scrutinise them. Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability,” Mr Gandhi said in response to Mr Musk’s post.

EVMs in India are a “black box,” and nobody is allowed to scrutinize them.

Serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process.

Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability. https://t.co/nysn5S8DCFpic.twitter.com/7sdTWJXOAb

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 16, 2024

His Opposition INDIA bloc ally, Mr Yadav, said technology experts around the world are openly writing about the dangers of EVM tampering. “We reiterate our demand that all future elections be conducted using ballot papers,” Mr Yadav said.

Referring to Indian EVMs, Mr Chandrasekhar said they are custom designed and isolated from any kind of network or media. “… no connectivity, no Bluetooth, Wi-FI, internet, i.e. there is no way in. (There are) factory programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed. Electronic voting machines can be… built right as India has done…”

To this, Mr Musk replied, “Anything can be hacked”.

The former Union Minister agreed that “anything is possible”, at least in theory. “… With quantum compute, I can decrypt any level of encryption. With lab-level tech and plenty of resources, I can hack any digital hardware/system including the flight controls of a glass cockpit of a jet, etc. But that’s a different type of conversation from EVMs being secure and reliable…”

The Supreme Court has also ruled it can’t dictate the functioning of the Election Commission (EC), a constitutional authority, on the matter of EVMs. The EC has long maintained India’s EVMs are foolproof.

An EVM has a control unit and a balloting unit. These are connected by a cable. These are also connected with a VVPAT — Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail — machine. This machine enables a voter to see if the vote was cast properly and went to the candidate he/she supports.

European nations have reverted to the ballot voting system.