EVM Petition in Supreme Court: Ignorant Judge Snubs Ignorant Lawyers

EVM Petition in Supreme Court: Ignorant Judge Snubs Ignorant Lawyers

सुप्रीम कोर्ट में ईवीएम याचिका

Actually, neither the advocates nor the Supreme Court judges understand the intricacies of technology used in EVM systems. Therefore, the petitions to get EVM manipulation stopped in elections keep getting deferred or dismissed.

By Rakesh Raman

A Supreme Court judge Sanjiv Khanna has again deferred the hearing of a petition that demands the transparency of voting on electronic voting machines (EVMs).

According to a Times Now report of February 9, 2024, Justice Sanjiv Khanna admonished advocates Kapil Sibal and Prashant Bhushan who were baselessly arguing on a new application to a writ petition filed by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), which is a leading election research organization.

The advocates demanded the counting of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips that are shown to the voter for a few seconds before the slips fall in a box. They also asked for court directions to tally the number of slips with the vote count on EVM counting machines to detect any discrepancy. 

Strangely, advocates Kapil Sibal and Prashant Bhushan were objecting to some glass colour on VVPAT equipment which – according to them – can lead to manipulation of votes.

In order to substantiate their views, the advocates were referring to a YouTube video, which claims that EVMs can be hacked. In fact, it is a crudely made video which shows a makeshift EVM equipment to obliquely show that the EVM system is vulnerable. 

The video and the demonstration of EVM / VVPAT vulnerability is so haphazard that it will not only confuse the naive Supreme Court judge but even a tech expert will get bewildered. 

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[ EVM vs Ram Temple: What Helps Modi and BJP Win Elections? ]

Since the advocates are making random allegations without any substantiation, the Election Commission of India (ECI) also simply ignores their appeals to bring transparency in elections. 

Actually, neither the advocates nor the Supreme Court judges understand the intricacies of technology used in EVM systems. Therefore, the petitions to get EVM manipulation stopped in elections keep getting deferred or dismissed.

It is a ridiculous argument that all VVPAT slips should be counted. It is also being suggested by some unqualified politicians that the VVPAT slip which falls in a box after voting should be handed over to the voter who should drop it in a separate ballot box after verification. Then all the VVPAT slips should be counted manually to declare election results.

The complainants fail to understand that if the VVPAT paper slips are to be counted manually, then there is no need to use EVMs or any other electronic equipment. It is better to ask the voters to stamp their choice of a candidate on ballot paper and then count the ballot papers to know the result.

In other words, the opposition parties and advocates should demand elections only on ballot papers by removing all EVMs from the election process. Only then there is a chance of stopping EVM frauds in elections. The proposition is simple: If there is electronics, there is a possibility of hacking and manipulation. It can be hacking through EVM electronic chip programming or remote hacking.

It is alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi selectively manipulates EVMs to win Lok Sabha elections and certain key state elections.

However, the ECI officials and the judges of the Supreme Court are reluctant to stop the use of EVMs mainly because they cannot take any decision that may displease their boss PM Modi.

Meanwhile, in an ongoing RMN Poll, 89% respondents say that they want elections in India to be held on ballot papers instead of EVMs. Only 9% want elections on EVMs and 2% neither like ballot papers nor EVMs. The poll results are as of February 10, 2024. 

Although a few citizens are holding some sporadic protests in Delhi and a few other cities against EVMs, it is unlikely that elections will be held on ballot papers. Therefore, Modi and BJP will win the 2024 Lok Sabha election and subsequent state elections with EVMs.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation. He has been running the global technology news site RMN Digital for the past 12 years and the Pathway technology platform for small businesses. Earlier, he was writing an exclusive edit-page tech business column (named Technophile) regularly for The Financial Express, which is a daily business newspaper of The Indian Express Group. 

He had also been associated with the United Nations (UN) through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development. You can click here to know more about him and his work.