Context :
Can’t
question EVMs solely on suspicion: Supreme Court ..
HT … 25 Apr 2024
Extract :
The Supreme Court on Wednesday emphasised
that the Election Commission of India (ECI), a separate constitutional
authority, is responsible for overseeing election management, adding it cannot
issue orders that question the efficacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)
and their integration with the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) based
solely on suspicions or private reports.
A bench of a bench of justices Sanjiv
Khanna and Dipankar Datta added that it cannot do much if the petitioners --
who demanded 100% cross-verification of votes cast on EVMs with VVPATs or going
back to the ballot paper system -- were “already prejudiced”.
“We can’t control the elections. We are
not the controlling authority of some other constitutional authority. If there are
issues, there are laws to deal with them. The judgment of this court (in 2013)
directed them to use VVPAT and they complied... Where is the direction of the
court to match all slips? The court later said 5% (EVM-VVPAT matching in 2019)
and they have followed our order. Let someone from those 5% say there have been
mismatches. Can we issue a mandamus on the basis of suspicion?” the bench asked.
It pointed out that the top court had
intervened on two occasions in the past. “At the first instance, this court
asked them (ECI) to use VVPAT, and then the verification of EVMs with VVPAT was
increased from 1 to 5 [in every assembly segment]. When we asked you
(petitioners) for suggestions, we were told to go back to the ballot
system...We will see what is needed to strengthen the current system,” the
court said.
“If you are already determined about it, we can’t help it.
We aren’t here to change your thought process... There has been no hacking
detected till date. The report you are relying on says that there is no
incident of hacking yet,” the bench told advocate Prashant Bhushan, who
appeared for non-profit Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
According to Bhushan, the micro-controllers in EVMs
contain a flash memory, and therefore are amenable to reprogramming or
malicious malware.
Bhushan’s “doubts” over the security of EVMs came through
after the court heard a senior ECI official who was called upon to address
specific queries regarding the micro-controllers and other security features
embedded in the voting machines.
My Take :
Dear Hon Judges :
In the matter of 100 % verification of VVPAT with
EVM , it is quite understandable that you said > We cannot order the
Election Commission
But surely, you can “ Ask – Guide – Direct “ the Commission , as you have
done many times in the past
Especially , if your “
Guidance “ :
Ø Will satisfy the demand for 100
% verification
And simultaneously ,
Ø Eliminate “ Human Intervention
“ ( no manual verification what-so-ever ) , altogether !
Dear Hon Judges,
I urge you to “ Ask “ Election
Commission :
“ Tell us why you cannot
implement the following TECHNOLOGY based solutions ? “ :
VVPAT ? How about EVBAT ? …………. …………..28 Mar
2019
100 % verification of VVPAT ? No problem ! .. 02 Apr
2019
Votes Audit :
Paper gives 99.9936% / Electronic gives 100 %.. 18 Mar 2024
And also ask Shri Prashant Bhushan :
“ If you have any problems with the implementation of these
solutions , within a week tell us what “
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
www.HemenParekh.ai / 25 Apr
2024
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