Locals destroying EVM machines found in BJP MLA’s car in Karnataka, how are EVM machines manipulated to change the outcome of votes?
The Indian electronic voting machine (EVM) was developed in 1989 by the Election Commission of India in collaboration with Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited. However, the counting is not accurate and something seems “fishy” each election. In one case, an independent candidate who voted for himself did not register a single vote. Until 1989, paper ballots were used for voting. Counting paper ballots can be a tedious task, which is why the invention of the EVM was magical for the vote counters, making the job earlier.
Starting from the 2019 election, the dilemma of finding BJP MLAs stealing EVM boxes is found.
Unfortunately, EVM boxes can be captured, and hacked and the vote manipulated to favour the party that has captured the boxes.
Here, once again, a BJP MLA was found “stealing EVM machines, caught by locals who in fury started destroying the EVM machines found in his car in Karnataka.
Locals destroying EVM machines found in BJP MLAs car in Karnataka🔥
BJP losing Karnataka big time!#Congress150 pic.twitter.com/5sctX9YuCM— Priyamwada Dis’Qualified 💫⭐️ (@PriaINC) May 10, 2023
While EVMs were introduced in many countries, suspicions arose about the security, accuracy, reliability, and verifiability of electronic elections. In October 2006, the Netherlands banned the use of EVMs. In 2009, the Republic of Ireland announced a moratorium on their use. Italy has followed suit. In March 2009, the Supreme Court of Germany judged that voting through EVMs was unconstitutional, holding that transparency is a constitutional right but efficiency is not a constitutionally protected value.
The EVM Dilemma Each Election
In 2019, allegations of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) being tampered with or being transported in private cars in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, and Haryana along with video clips that the opposition said reinforced apprehensions about voting machines just ahead of the counting of votes in the national election.
A mobile phone clip that emerged on Monday from the Chandauli parliamentary seat shows EVMs being off-loaded and put in a room inside what appears to be a counting centre. Supporters of the Samajwadi Party candidate in Chandauli, who filmed the video were heard questioning why the voting machines were being off-loaded a day after polling and why they were not brought in earlier.
The administration says the machines seen in the video are about 35 reserve EVM units from an assembly segment in Chandauli. Officials said these voting machines reached the storage room and the counting centre later than the other EVMs because of “logistical issues”. According to the rules, reserve EVMs should be deposited at the same time as the machines used in voting.
In Eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate held a sit-in outside the storage room for electronic voting machines (EVMs). Afzal Ansari and his supporters claim there was an attempt to take out a vehicle full of voting machines. The police and the district have denied the allegations.
In 2022, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav levels the ‘EVM fraud’ charge in Uttar Pradesh. BJP has called it an admission of defeat.
Cong writes to EC, seeks probe into charges of Gujarat Police role in securing EVMs after voting. AICC secretary and coordinator in the Congress president’s office Pranav Jha said, “If such directions have indeed been given to the TSR battalions, it raises a serious doubt on the fairness of an election process, allowing the puppets of the ruling party to manipulate and illegally tamper with the ballot boxes”.
In the Uttar Pradesh State Elections in India in 2017, the BJP won by a historic record-breaking margin of 325 seats. This has bought forward the issue of Election fraud in EVM (Electronic Voting) machines. EVMs can be hacked and tampered with easily. That’s why most developed nations do not use an EVM.
How are EVMs Hacked and Manipulated?
Votes are “snatched” from other voters to go to one candidate and how is this done? EVMs have simple processors and memories to store votes. Manipulators can make the machine “cheat” by tampering with the hardware.
They open the machine and replace the real display with an imitated look-alike version deceiving the people about the election results. Under the display, they have a tiny chip that displays the real results with the fake ones and a Bluetooth radio that wirelessly signals who should win. EVM criminal conspirators can display this at anytime before the votes are counted.
They can also change the votes in the strongroom where the EVMs are stored before the counting starts. Small devices are made with dials to select the winning candidate. These are attached momentarily inside the EVMs connecting to the memory chips that store votes to rewrite the votes. It leaves no traces and ensures their favourite candidate wins.
Several countries in the world – including Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States of America – have banned the use of EVMs. Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy writes in a column for The Hindu: There is worldwide acceptance of the need for a paper trail in conjunction with EVMs.
In India, there is worry and apprehension especially among the Opposition parties each election because, in various incidents, BJP MLAs have been caught with EVM machines in cars or locations, illegally.