A first person piece by the man who has a case slapped on him (coming up on January 11) for exposing flaws in the Electronic Voting Machines
A first person piece by the man who has a case slapped on him (coming up on January 11) for exposing flaws in the Electronic Voting Machines
The results of Indian general elections held in 2009 came as a surprise, upsetting all forecasts made by psephologists and political parties. Several underdogs and first timers performed extraordinarily over seasoned popular politicians beating them by huge margins.
Polling officers sealing the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in Mumbai
Apart from other concerns, the suspicious behaviour of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during elections made several observers doubt the outcome of that election. It seemed easy to explain these away as an aberration and nobody was held responsible.
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But the fact remained that these black boxes could not be understood or audited by citizens so that they could trust results displayed by these machines.
Even the basics of transparency and verifiability in elections were completely ignored.u00a0 Besides, the software and design rights of these EVMs are with its manufacturers Electronics Corporation Of India Limited (ECIL), and thus outside the control of the Election Commission Of India, which made it appear quite bizarre.
Concluding that these were serious concerns, which could undermine democracy, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) called Election Watch 2009 from Andhra Pradesh approached me to initiate a thorough study of these machines.
After a convincing debate, I decided to study EVMs as corporate social responsibility of my Hyderabad-based company, Netindia. Under my guidance, the Netindia team developed a 'look alike EVM'. It took hardly two weeks for my team to study and build a working prototype of a 'look alike EVM' with trojans inside the code.
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Our 'look alike EVM' resembles the one which the Election Commission of India (EC) uses, and even functions almost in a similar manner. My team and I conducted a mock election and altered the original results by triggering off the trojans inside our 'look alike EVM', convincing members of the NGO, that their apprehensions were indeed justified.
Later on, another NGO called Jana Chaitanya Vedika, along with Netindia engineers as co-petitioners, filed a PIL in the Supreme Court on July 9, 2009, seeking a direction to appoint independent experts to study vulnerabilities in the existing EVMs, and to restrain these from being used, until scientists approved a tamper-proof EVM design.
On hearing our petition, the Supreme Court made oral comments that the Election Commission of India should call for an all-party meet to resolve the matter and it disposed the petition without prejudice, directing us to approach the Election Commission first to address concerns raised in our petition.
By then, several political leaders who raised similar concerns before the Election Commission, referred the technical observations made by me and my team in their petitions and even requested affidavits from me to be placed before courts.
That was when the Election Commission challenged me and my team to prove that tampering is possible, by providing us with EVMs at the premises of the Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi.
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But ironically, the letter of invitation from the Election Commission Of India to prove that tampering is possible, was also followed by a criminal notice from the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), one of the manufacturers of EVMs to me and my team, so as to scare us away from taking up the challenge!
By then, GVLN Rao a prominent psephologist who was keenly following the proceedings extended his support to us and this led to formation of a new forum to fight election irregularities called VETA (Citizens Forum for Verifiability Transparency & Accountability in Indian Elections).
So, besides me and my team, Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy, former advocate general of Orissa Jayant Das, as well as psephologist GVLN Rao, who became VETA's president attended the meeting with the Election Commission at Nirvachan Sadan, on September 3, 2009.
Surprisingly, at this meeting, our demonstration of tampering with an original EVM was halted abruptly by Election Commission officials, even as we were in the midst of identifying its vulnerabilities.
The Election Commission officials claimed that our demonstration violated intellectual property rights of the EVMs manufacturers!
After being turned away by the Election Commission, we were approached by an anonymous source in February 2010. This source, who was concerned about the physical security of these machines, managed to get hold of an EVM and give it to us, so that we could study it.
This was also the time when EVM security researchers, Alex Halderman from the USA and Rop Gonggrijp from the Netherlands, happened to be in India attending a conference on EVMs at Chennai, which was organized by Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy.
Dr Swamy heard about us and came to meet us in Hyderabad for a hands-on investigation of the machine.
A video and a well-drafted research paper was made by the trio, showing several vulnerabilities in existing EVMs and revealed to the public through websites indiaevm.org as well as Indianevm.com. When a TV channel, also broadcast the same footage on April 28, 2010, it raised an alarm across all quarters.
Annoyed with our whistle-blowing, the Election Commission filed a case of theft on May 13, 2010, stating that the machine shown in the video, was stolen by an unknown person from the high security Customs House at Mumbai, where such machines are stored.
It was on August 6, 2009, when the police took my statement at Hyderabad and returned on August 21 to arrest me on charges of theft! I was detained for eight days before I was released on bail. Commenting in my bail order that a theft case is applicable only if a dishonest intention exists which is not seen in this case, Judge Sarma commended our efforts as a service to the nation.
But the Government of Maharashtra appealed against the bail order before the district court, and appointed H H Ponda to argue the case. Mahesh Jethmalani appeared on my behalf and arguments by both sides have ended.
As things stand, the matter is now up for hearing on January 11, 2011, before the Principal Judge M L Tahiliyani, the same judge, who decided Ajmal Kasab's fate.
Electronic Vanishing Machines?
It may be back to the trusty paper ballot, as a committee set up to examine the flaws in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) met recently and is all set to submit its report
India's Deputy Election Commissioner Alok Shukla told MiD DAY that an Election Commission appointed technical expert committee set up to examine the flaws in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will submit its report shortly.
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Hacker
The technical expert committee had to be set up after pressure from political parties as well as activists like the Hyderabad-based engineer and ethical hacker Hari Krishna Prasad Vemuru, who conclusively proved that EVMs could be hacked. The committee, which met on December 23 at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi, comprised newly included members like Professor Rajat Moona of IIT Kanpur and Professor Dinesh K Sharma of IIT Bombay, besides others like Professor D T Shahani and Professor A K Agarwala from IIT Delhi, besides Professor P V Indiresan, former director of IIT Madras.
Scrapped
Sources informed MiD DAY that the most likely fallout of the report would be the effective scrapping of around 70 per cent of EVMs presently being used. In fact, out of around 14 lakh machines, only around 4.5 lakh machines manufactured after 2006, will be able to support the technical committee's plan to install a printer along with EVMs, so as to give a paper receipt to voters, as mandated by the IT Act 2000. Since most of the machines will not be able to support a printer interface, EVMs may have to be scrapped, at least temporarily, and voting may revert to ballot boxes.
Models Tapur and Tupur with their finger marked
Presentation
"I made a presentation on December 23 before the technical expert committee, which got convinced. They seem to have realised the importance of a paper trail. However, installing printers along with EVMs is also an operational challenge. But for the sake of transparency and verifiability, the Election Commission must overcome these hurdles. Or else, we may have to revert to using paper and ballot box. At the meeting, except Dr P V Indiresan, everybody was convinced that if any technical person was let into warehouses that store EVMs, the results of entire districts could be altered easily. If the committee decides to go by what it has concluded, then the Delhi High Court also may not pass any adverse order as the purpose of the writ is resolved, when the matter comes up for hearing on February 9, 2011," said Hyderabad-based Hari Prasad.
Detained
It may be recalled that the central government had recently prohibited Rop Gonggrip, a computer security expert from Amsterdam and Alex Halderman, a computer science professor at the University of Michigan from addressing a recent technology conference at Ahmedabad about how security in EVMs could be enhanced, during their recent visit to India.u00a0
However, they were detained at the New Delhi International Airport and were finally allowed into the country, only after Subramanian Swamy called up the Prime Minister's Office and sent his wife Roxna Swamy, a practicing Supreme Court Advocate, to the airport.
They were released only after the Election Commission gave a 'no objection' to the Union Home Ministry. The reason given by the authorities was that these two researchers had come on a tourist visa.
Controversy
"However, both of them were allowed to meet the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dr S Y Qureishi, who appears to be convinced by what they said. It also appears that the CEC would like to settle this controversy in a positive manner, so that all doubts are set to rest," Hari Prasad added.u00a0 Incidentally, the criminal case filed against Hari Prasad for his alleged role in the theft and hacking of EVMs is also coming up for hearing in the Bombay High Court on January 11, 2011. The controversy began after the 2009 general elections, when a Hyderabad-based Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) Jana Chaitanya Vedika smelt a rat and approached Hari Prasad.
Experts
In February 2010, Janata Party President Dr Subramanian Swamy invited international experts Rop Gonggrip, a computer security expert from Amsterdam and Alex Halderman, a computer science professor at the University of Michigan to attend the International conference on electronic voting machines organized by him at Chennai. Dr Swamy and S Kalyanaraman had also edited a book titled, 'Electronic Voting Machines: Unconstitutional and Tamperable', in which they had insisted that the deadliest way to hack Indian EVMs is by inserting a chip with Trojan inside the display section of the control unit. This, they wrote, required access to an EVM for merely two minutes. Such a chip could manipulate the results and give out fixed results on the screen.
Control
They had also contended that a large number of people who are outside the ambit and control of the Election Commission have access to EVMs at different stages, the manufacturing companies; the foreign companies that supply its micro controllers; as well as private players involved in maintenance of EVMs. Therefore, they had argued that these machines are vulnerable to tampering.u00a0 The controversy refused to die even after the Election Commissioner set up a three-man technical committee headed by Dr P V Indiresan, the former director of IIT Madras.
Incompetent
"In recognition of our position on December 23 2010, I was invited to an Election Commission meeting which would decide whether voters should get paper receipts. I said that if the Chief Election Commissioner presides, I would come. But they played a game and roped in Dr P V Indiresan who is known to be incompetent and corrupt, as the technical expert. In fact, Indiresan's knowledge of electrical engineering does not go beyond soldering two wires, and the less said about his knowledge of electronics, the better. He is merely a rubber stamp," Dr Subramanian Swamy said.
Tampered
The result was Dr Swamy refused to attend the meeting and the EC was forced to expand its technical committee by getting Rajat Moona of IIT Kanpur and Professor D K Sharma from IIT Bombay on board. "We had proved that EVMs could be tampered to produce any result by soldering an embedded chip which stores the data. The chip used in the EVM is made by a Japanese company," Dr Swamy said, indicating that nothing stopped rogue elements from purchasing such chips from the same company.u00a0 In 2008, the German Supreme Court had shot down the use of Electronic Voting Machines.The Netherlands and Ireland stopped electronic voting. EVMs are not used in EU or UK. The only parameter over which electronic voting scored was efficiency. However, efficiency is not a constitutional value, but transparency is.
Suspicious
"In the USA, wherever EVMs are used, voters get a paper receipt. I had suggested to the Election Commissioner to give voters a paper receipt. Under the IT Act 2000, Section 12, if anyone inputs into an EVM, it is his right to get a receipt. When I filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court in 2009, the EC could not answer my questions. Ever since the EC has been getting one adjournment after the other. Prima facie there was evidence of rigging. If out of 1,500 booths, more than 100 booths have less than two votes for any established party, then prima facie, it is suspicious. In the last parliamentary election, I told the Delhi High Court, that there is prima facie evidence of rigging in 90 seats," Dr Swamy told MiD DAY.
Withdraw
But the Election Commission accused him ofu00a0 "demeaning" the country. Later, Dr Swamy filed RTI applications to know how many countries had ordered for EVMs made in India. "The answer that I got was that no other country except Bhutan, Nigeria and Venezuela had ordered Indian EVMs. Now none of these countries are known for their democratic credentials," he said. "Then I wrote to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) whether the manufacturer of the Election Commission's EVMs, which is the Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), had applied for any patent. But the WIPO wrote back saying that after several queries from the WIPO, the ECIL had withdrawn its patent application in 2006, because it would have been dismissed," Dr Swamy revealed.
Afraid
Dr Swamy then filed the WIPO's reply in the Delhi High Court. Subsequently, the EC could not reply to the Delhi High Court it why it is not abiding by the IT Act 2000, which stipulates that voters must get a receipt.u00a0 "As things stand, the powers that be are afraid of rigging. They will either have to give receipts to voters, or will have to revert to paper ballots. In any case, EVMs are not used in any other country," Dr Swamy told MiD DAY.
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