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© 2012 Sanjeev Sabhlok's revolutionary blog
Just a few days ago I was boasting to someone I know in Australia about how much Australia had to learn from India on the conduct of elections. Australia's electoral machinery is incompetent seemingly beyond compare! They are STILL struggling to declare results in its TINY parliamentary constituencies. Elections were held on 21 August Saturday. It is Thursday evening 26 August. Six full days gone and no results yet! And I couldn't help laughing when the Australian Electoral Commission confused everyone in Australia about the meaning of "seats won" (here).
In this mess, I was proud of the fact that India has some of the most effective and efficient voting systems in the world, proud to have been part of these systems from January 1983 to 2000 – during which period I held roles as diverse as Presiding Officer, Assistant Returning Officer, Returning Officer, Additional Chief Electoral Officer, State Observer, and Central Observer. I was also involved in the testing of the first few Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in India in 1991. I held some doubts about their reliability but I believe that most issues I had raised (and others had raised) were later resolved. The mass use of EVMs was not undertaken till after 2000, though.
How easy is it to tamper with India's EVMs?
But now comes bad news that has seriously punctured my pride in India's fabled election capabilities. It appears that India's EVMs may not only NOT be a suitable role model for the world, but these gadgets might actually endanger India's democracy – unless they are immediately, and possibly radically, improved.
[Addendum!!: Sorry, looks like I took Sandeep's well written article (below) at face value. The machines are most likely fine. See Supratim's detailed comment below. Key elements:
- These machines have hard-coded chips and need machine language for programming, each being individually coded.
- These machines are not connected to the internet at any point in time – so you need physical access to hack them
In brief, I thank Supratim Basu, a senior FTI member, for reminding me not to rush to conclusions. In the same vein, there are serious issues with way the ECI has handled this matter. It should issue a public challenge (and reward to ANYONE in the world to prove that the machine can be tampered, GIVEN the strict processes that accompany its use.) See the first two comments on this post (by Supratim and me) before rushing to conclusion about Sandeep's article that you'll shortly read, below.
I apologise for the flurry I might have caused and accidentally giving air to potential innuendo re: the machines. However, I do think that repeated exposure and verification of the truth is vital. So let the ECI set up a process to ensure that such questions do not arise in the minds of Indians in the future. The credibility of EVMs is absolutely crucial to the integrity of India's democracy. Once that is done I can continue being proud of India's election machinery.]
===ORIGINAL POST RESUMES==
Thanks to Shantanu Bhagwat (a senior FTI member) for pointing me to a number of relevant facts which I should list first, for your information:
1. Shantanu's note on Facebook.
2. His two articles: On EVMs and some unanswered questions | EVMs and some unanswered questions – Part II
3. These slides.
4. And finally this article, Democracy imperilled by Sandeep B in The Pioneer, 26 August 2010. I've copied it entirely below for your convenience. Read this article, and be VERY, VERY concerned. Also read it on Sandeep's blog. (Sandeep, if you chance by this blog, I trust I have your permission to post your very important article here. – I'll also write to Sandeep separately on this and see if he objects to this being posted in full).
Democracy Imperilled – by Sandeep B.
The arrest of Hari Prasad, a technologist whose research helped prove beyond doubt that Indian EVMs are vulnerable to fraud, sends out a dangerous signal: That anybody who challenges the Central Election Commission runs the danger of persecution and prosecution in our democracy
Voting and freedom in a democracy are inseparable. Voting stands right at the top as one of the important ways people exercise their freedom to choose who they want to entrust with running their lives. Voting is what gives a Government the authority to govern and this authority must ideally be based on virtuous principles. Those who vote perform their duty in the fullest sense when they thoroughly understand exactly what the person they’re voting for truly represents. While this is not true of an average voter anywhere in the world today, there are thousands of such well-aware voters.
Which is why the election process is sacrosanct in strong democracies. Which is also why the Election Commission of India is a quasi-judicial constitutional body with sweeping powers that are binding even on the President. Which is also why it is insulated from the executive. But in practice, it has been infected with the same decay of political meddling that plagues most institutions in this country.
A recent instance of this malaise is the arrest of Mr Hari Prasad, technical coordinator and a key resource person of an independent citizens’ forum, VeTA. The organisation describes its purpose as “promoting Verifiability, Transparency and Accountability in Indian elections”.
Mr Prasad is a technologist with expertise in electronic voting machines, now the de facto method of voting in Indian elections. He collaborated with a team headed by Mr Alex Halderman, a Computer Science professor at Michigan University and Mr Rop Gonggrijp, a security researcher from the Netherlands, on a project that involved detailed technical analysis of Indian EVMs. Their studies yielded conclusive, scientific proof that EVMs could easily be tampered with. They conducted several demonstrations across major Indian cities showing how EVMs could be rigged.
On August 17, 2009, the EC invited them for a similar demonstration and laid illogical conditions under which the demonstration was to be done. What followed is detailed in the lucid Democracy at Risk (GVL Narasimha Rao, VeTa), also available as a downloadable book in pdf format (www.indianevm.com).
Mr Halderman captures the sequence of events that followed after February 2010 “when an anonymous source approached Hari and offered a (EVM) machine for him to study. This source requested anonymity and we have honoured this request. We have every reason to believe that the source had lawful access to the machine and made it available for scientific study as a matter of conscience, out of concern over potential security problems.” The team used this EVM to demonstrate on a TV channel how it could easily be tampered with. In the first week of August, the police visited Mr Prasad and recorded a statement about this EVM he had used.
And then, suddenly on August 21, he was arrested on a bizarre charge — that of stealing an EVM from Maharashtra. In his text message, Mr Prasad says, “I am not worried or scared at all by these tricks from the EC. I came to know that because of tremendous pressure, police had no other option than to arrest me. Our new CEC is positive in resolving EVM vulnerabilities but it seems even he came under pressure to change his stance from what he promised us on August 10.”
The episode clearly reeks of intimidation by the EC or whoever directed the arrest. As Mr Rao’s book shows, the EC has been obstinate in its stand that EVMs are “foolproof”, “perfect” and “tamper-free” despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary across the world. Mr Halderman, Mr Prasad, et al have shown that by embedding a Bluetooth (wireless technology) device, it’s possible to manipulate the EVM using remote devices like a mobile phone.
The book painstakingly explains this and other methods of manipulation. Ideally, India should’ve followed suit — or ordered deeper inquiry — when the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Ireland banned EVMs because they were “easy to falsify,” risked eavesdropping” and “lacked transparency”. What’s worse is that Indian EVMs leave no trail — there is no mechanism to track suspected election fraud.
The EC’s obstinacy thus defies reason. On one hand, the EC insists that EVMs are impregnable. So there should really be no reason to not let the researchers examine the machine. What or who is it scared of? Indeed, if it were transparent, it should’ve actually facilitated Mr Prasad and team to expose any vulnerability in the EVMs. That would’ve restored our faith in the health of our democratic institutions. Instead, Mr PV Indiresan issued an outlandish analogy equating a call for a scientific inquiry into EVMs with testing the chastity of Sita. This only helps deepen suspicions about foul play in the issue.
[DIGRESSION: Btw, on 4 February 2008, Indiresan wrote to me "I will try [to review the book]" and gave his address for being sent the book, Breaking Free of Nehru. The publisher Anthem Press sent it to him by courier. He not only did not bother to review it, he did not respond to numerous subsequent email reminders. See this. What credibility does such a man have? Not with me, anyway. Small things like this show the true character of a man. Was he scared of publicly discussing my extremely adverse comments on Nehru's socialism? I trust he will one day tell me why he promised to so something but then backed out. And he didn't return the book either.
Second, NO SCIENTIST WORTH HIS SALT WILL EVER MAKE THE STATEMENT THAT INDIRESAN HAS MADE. A scientist is sworn to the truth, and to experiment. Why should he bring religious symbolism into a factual matter?]
The UPA reached a new low in 2009 when it bulldozed the appointment of Mr Navin Chawla as Chief Election Commissioner who the Shah Commission report “declared as unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others.” And now the arrest of Mr Prasad has again sent an ugly signal. Is it safe to conclude that ordinary citizens will be persecuted for seeking the truth? Ironically, on August 9, the Cabinet passed the Whistleblower Bill, but who should people turn to when the state’s institutions themselves begin to look like agents of intimidation? The current CEC, Mr SY Quraishi, must come clean immediately on this shameful affair. The country has a right to know whether the EC is a body of the Constitution or just an arm of a political party.
Tampering of EVMs is a serious issue with potential to shatter the foundations of democracy. The logical end of this will mean that only one party gets to wield power forever. If the voting process is subverted, it won’t be long before national interest will be equated with a particular political party’s interest — it harks back to a black era when “India was Indira”.
Mr Prasad’s arrest also shows how many of our fundamental freedoms are slowly being taken away without our knowledge. Equally, it’s ironical that the state is virtually powerless against a dangerous man like Abdul Nasser Madani but swoops down on an individual who asked uncomfortable questions concerning national interest.
However, it’s heartening to see the groundswell of support that has emerged across the country for Mr Prasad. Petitions, Internet groups, blogs and articles have strongly condemned the strong-arm tactics of the EC. VeTA has also indicated approaching the Supreme Court for a “renewed legal battle”. This news has already attracted international attention with people comparing this with the Florida EVM fiasco. It’s a huge blot on India’s image in the world, which regards our elections as reasonably “fair and free”. The EC needs to urgently show complete transparency with regard to this episode — admitting that the EVMs are flawed is not a personal insult to the EC.
This issue is in many ways a good test of the saying about eternal vigilance and is an opportunity to prove Ambrose Pierce wrong when he said that voting is “the instrument and symbol of a free man’s power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country.”
ADDENDUM
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- Can India catch up? Can Australia do better?
- My two bits for good relations between India and Australia
- Can India catch up? Can Australia (or the West, more broadly) do better? (#2)
- The story continues: Australia #2, Cuba #57, India #134 (out of 187)
- Can India catch up? Can Australia (or the West, more broadly) do better?
- Australia – please note that J&K and Arunachal are parts of India!
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- The slippery slope – the pressures on democratic governments to trade liberty for votes
To spread the message of liberty and critical thinking, please share this post
Dear Sanjeev,
I wish you would not give publicity to articles that confuse assertions with facts – I refer to the article by Sandeep B. Note that he says that the hackers were invited to demonstrate to the EC how they would manipulate the EVM, but laid down "illogical conditions" – nowhere does our respected columnist mention what these conditions were?
There are two issues here:
1. Political parties that have lost in the last elections, when they expected to win, have through innuendos and other means questioned the sanctity of the EVMs – this is nothing but evil, scare mongering, doubting the credibility of the EVMs. When invited by the EC, the political parties/hackers declined/were unable to prove EVM manipulation.
2. The response of the Election Commission has been equally ham handed – but, this I attribute more to bureaucratic arrogance rather than criminality. They should have allowed hackers to go full tilt at these machines when these doubts surfaced. Instead, they contented themselves with blase denials of these types of reports. The recent Hari incident is a bit more egregious – since, Hari and his organisation (which is apparently funded by US money) illegally got hold of an EVM when the EC would not give them one. And, as usual, our glorious bureaucracy brought out the cannons to quash a mosquito.
Here are some facts about the machines, as I have understood them:
1. These machines have hard-coded chips and need machine language for programming
2. These chips are bought by BEL, which does the coding individually on each machine before it is sent out.
3. These machines are not connected to the internet at any point in time – so you need physical access to hack them
4. Any hacking of the chip, allegedly (because I have no direct proof), causes the chip to malfunction and the machine will stop working.
5. No candidate data or political party data is stored on the machines – only tally counts for each button pressed
6. Which number corresponds to which candidate is set at the polling station by the EC observer, along with observers of all major parties
7. The machine is tested out before the representatives of the party, that the totals are actually coming out correctly. Then , the previous data is erased and the machine is sealed.
8. The seal is broken and the tally taken only after the election closes.
9. Even in a single state or a single constituency, it is thus evident that different machines may have different sequence of political names, for the sequence of numbers – in fact, the EC apparently (have not seen the manual, so can not prove) lets each polling booth set their own sequences.
Therefore, to perpetrate electoral fraud using these machines, you must:
1. Be proficient in machine language
2. Be able to over-ride the "self-destruct" mechanisms of the chips
3. Corrupt substantial portions of Bharat Electronics' and Election Commission' workforce, so that you can sit and work on hundreds of machines.
4. Be a super fast worker, as access to these machines even at BEL is only available for a limited window prior to the elections. And, remember you have to hack each machine to change its code.
5. And, finally, corrupt all the EC observers and the various party reps at different polling booths to manipulate the candidate sequence – because, let us say you have the EVM such that every third vote will go to say, a Congress candidate, irrespective of what button is pressed, you have to ensure that the memory stack that controls the votes for the Congress Candidate is actually physically assigned to the candidate in the little piece of paper that is assigned to each button. So, this implies that you have to ensure that each polling booth knows, in advance, which is the memory stack so compromised and that the EC observor allocates that button to your candidate.
Do you see the implications? We have a vast electoral conspiracy, involving thousands of people, if not tens of thousands of people, and that no one has squealed? No one has leaked this information? And that no one has perpetrated one of those camera phone exposes that are so much the rage in India, today?
Is this even believable? Maybe a rocket scientist can, indeed, hack an EVM – how does he then compromise the election? What is unbelievable to me is how long this conspiracy theory has lived on in India. Of course, the EC is equally to blame – like the Rationalist society of India, they should have a public challenge on their website – in a controlled environment, allow any hacker to come and try and hack their machine.
It is illogical of hackers/conspiracy theorists to expect the EC to hand over EVMs to any and all so that they can work years on reverse-engineering it. There is a time element in it and the machines' supply is tightly controlled – if these are illogical conditions, as per Sandeep, then we know who is penning out conspiracy theories.
Some favourite arguments of the conspiracy camp:
1. The doctored memory stack theory – but, no explanations for how you manipulate the polling booths
2. A bug/trojan inserted during the manufacturing process – but, how do you trigger the trojan? When the machine is not connected to anything.
3. USA, Germany, France, UK do not use EVMs – so they are the wise ones, and we are being fooled. I would buy this one if they at least allowed me to extend the same logic to political process and economic theories of the west, when they go back to "no, no, India is different"
4. The Chidambaram turnaround – yet AIADMK chose not to sue
Ah well, I can go on and on.
The hacker should be released, for sure. But, let him equally admit he acquired an EVM illegally and that his organisation refused the EC challenge.
cheers
supratim
Thanks Supratim
Much relieved. A good reminder to me that all the testing (for nearly 10 years!) that was done on that machine did not go waste. I'm going to take key elements of your post to the top of this post to avoid people from being misled. I'll also write to Shantanu to do so, and to Sandeep to COUNTER your points, if he can do so.
I find the second issue quite concerning, about ECI not letting others test this machine. There is a risk that others might actually duplicate the machine (made in China) and replace it with the one used in the polling stations but that is actually impossible given the many checks and balances in the process including hand-signed seals. So that risk is very low. However, the risk of people losing faith in the machine is VERY HIGH! Particularly if someone keeps saying that the machine can be controlled with a mobile phone!
The integrity of the machine must be confirmed, and re-confirmed, as many times as doubts are raised. Even Microsoft with its billions of dollars can't prevent hacking. Even Pentagon can't. So there is no harm in having the machine rigorously re-tested each time someone raises an issue. The ECI will be well-advised to issue a public challenge (and reward!) to ANYONE in the world to prove that the machine can be tampered, GIVEN the strict processes that accompany its use. Much like James Randi has issued re: telepathy, ghosts, etc. That still hasn't fixed the disease of superstition, but has significantly dented it.
Regards
Sanjeev
supratim,
did you read this http://www.indiaevm.org/evm_tr2010-jul29.pdf.if not first read this and then checkout your comments.
sanjeev,
the only differences between utterances of supratim and ec obfuscators are:-
"2. The response of the Election Commission has been equally ham handed – but, this I attribute more to bureaucratic arrogance rather than criminality. They should have allowed hackers to go full tilt at these machines when these doubts surfaced. Instead, they contented themselves with blase denials of these types of reports. The recent Hari incident is a bit more egregious – since, Hari and his organisation (which is apparently funded by US money) illegally got hold of an EVM when the EC would not give them one. And, as usual, our glorious bureaucracy brought out the cannons to quash a mosquito."
maybe he can go and advice the ec/sonia brigade as to how to quash this "mosquito" better.
a simple read of the paper by sh. hariprasad will show that he has taken care of all of the issues raised by supratim except:-
1."4. Any hacking of the chip, allegedly (because I have no direct proof), causes the chip to malfunction and the machine will stop working."
see for yourself no direct proof and still an assertion,so you know the kind of people you're dealing.
2.(a)"6. Which number corresponds to which candidate is set at the polling station by the EC observer, along with observers of all major parties".
2.(b)"9. Even in a single state or a single constituency, it is thus evident that different machines may have different sequence of political names, for the sequence of numbers – in fact, the EC apparently (have not seen the manual, so can not prove) lets each polling booth set their own sequences."
as far as i know these sequences are set by draw of lots and some other criterion like party status etc. for each constituency.
so i find this writeup by supratim as nothing else but ec/sonia wine in supratim bottle.
for more education go to indiaevm.org
Ashwani:
Thanks for the personal labels – I am sure that helped your argument and your position a lot.
Could you tell me why Hari Prasad and Co did not take up the ECI challenge? I have read parts of Indiaevm before and they sound exactly like a conspiracy theorists – I can point you to equally scientific sounding websites about how the moon landings were a fake. Walk the talk. Hari Prasad, etc have failed to do so.
Even someone apparently adversely affected like say, Jayalalitha or Advani have not taken on the EVMs and in fact, Advani actually made a very statesman like comment on the entire topic. Why don't you ask him why he and Jaya have not sued? Unless your claim is that Hari Prasad is the monkey's paw being used by Advani?
Points 1, 2a and 2b raised, highlighted by you above are not trivial challenges – please explain how anyone committing electoral fraud would overcome those? And, if your assertion is correct i.e the sequencing is via random draw, then that makes the problem of causing and CONTROLLING an electoral fraud even more abstruse.
Waiting to be enlightened.
Thanks
Also, Ashwani:
The link you sent me does not work – I went to refresh my memory about what I had read before. Has the document being redacted?
: )
Sanjeev:
You should see the video on the IndiaEVM.org website, referenced by Ashwani above.
One hacking method is to replace the display card by a doctored one! Imagine doing that to the hundreds of thousands of machines that are used. The guy doing the change was fast, I grant you – but still took nearly 30 secs to switch the display card. And, not to mention the "small" problem of carrying in tens, if not hundreds of thousands of such display cards in a gunny sack to the BEL factory!
And, still does not pass the hurdle of knowing which memory stack to doctor.
I think the problem is that the EC keeps claiming these are not hackable – I think their correct position should be to say that you can not hack these machines to commit electoral fraud and favour a candidate – you may quite easily favour your opponent! So, there is no incentive here.
And, the other thing they should do is establish an audit trail – I think that would take care of all conspiracy theories with these machines.
cheers
Sanjeev S said:
"The integrity of the machine must be confirmed, and re-confirmed, as many times as doubts are raised. Even Microsoft with its billions of dollars can't prevent hacking. Even Pentagon can't"
Larry Ellison, the flamboyant CEO of Oracle issued an invitation to hackers to hack Oracle DB 'if possible'. Well, it was done in less than 24 hours. And lets not belittle those Oracle's Engineers those people are brilliant and Oracle DBs are very secure and functional. But no one is infalliable. Also , Ellison made his DB available for testing.
What is ECI trying to hide first by not giving access to EVMs, all open democracies do that.
Why this Gestappo tactic of arresting whistle blowers? If anything Hari Prasad should be given a Bharat Ratna for trying to uphold the integrity of the electoral process. Mother India needs such people.
Quick one, Ashwani: I had half a mind to reject your comment because of the ad hominem attack on Supratim, but I let it go, being a borderline case. It is important that we aim to restrict arguments squarely to the facts.
I trust we’ll all respect my blog policy. Then we can all work towards a better India, as good friends!
We have a long journey ahead of us to reform India’s governance, and can’t afford to alienate each other – what good is it for anyone if we do find the right policies for India but have no capacity left to work together?
Regards
Sanjeev
supratim,
"Could you tell me why Hari Prasad and Co did not take up the ECI challenge?"
could you pls. show the challenge and the refusal.
for you benefit you can go to indiaevm.com on the evm resources page.
"Even someone apparently adversely affected like say, Jayalalitha or Advani have not taken on the EVMs and in fact, Advani actually made a very statesman like comment on the entire topic. Why don't you ask him why he and Jaya have not sued? Unless your claim is that Hari Prasad is the monkey's paw being used by Advani?"
so advani etc.'s failure to take on evm's is a proof of evm's infallibility?if i say great logic you'll say personal attack.but i don't care let sanjeev do his job to the best of his ability.
any way are advani and sh.hariprasad supposed to talk on same plane about the same thing?
"Points 1, 2a and 2b raised, highlighted by you above are not trivial challenges – please explain how anyone committing electoral fraud would overcome those? And, if your assertion is correct i.e the sequencing is via random draw, then that makes the problem of causing and CONTROLLING an electoral fraud even more abstruse."
i don't think that you read anything properly before reacting.
i said about point 1,that you yourself did not have a proof of that.so how do you expect someone to overcome that of which you do not have a proof.?
regarding 2a,2b i countered you statement on numbering which if you recall you said was on booth basis?am i right?
"….in fact, the EC apparently (have not seen the manual, so can not prove) lets each polling booth set their own sequences."
whereas i said that it was on constituentcy basis.does this change the scale of operations for you or not?
there was a mistake in the appearance of the link that i had given.
below is the link again.i've checked it.this time read it.
http://www.indiaevm.org/evm_tr2010-jul29.pdf
typo in post above.the site is
indianevm.com,not
indiaevm.comsupratim,
for the paper the link is :-
indiaevm.org/paper.html
the use the download link.
A wonderful, balanced press release by Lok Satta on the EVM issue:
========================================
Let’s not undermine electoral process, Dr. JP Appeals to political parties
Hyderabad, Aug. 27
Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan today appealed to all political parties not to undermine the electoral process and demolish the credibility of the Election Commission of India by kicking up a controversy over electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Addressing the media, Dr. JP pointed out that the Election Commission is one of the few institutions which enjoy credibility. It has earned reputation by conducting free and fair elections by and large.
Referring to certain politicians’ contention that EVMs could be tampered with and poll outcomes rigged, Dr. JP said it was nobody’s case that any man-made machine is not vulnerable to tampering. After all an EVM is like any other machine which can be manipulated and fixed. The Election Commission has instituted fool-proof safeguards at various levels to protect the sanctity of elections and prevent any possibility of EVMs being tampered with. The important question, therefore, is whether EVMs are being tampered with during elections in real life situations..
He recalled that the Election Commission of India had offered to place EVMs at the disposal of Doubting Thomases for a month and challenged them to prove that they could be tampered with in the conditions in which elections are actually held. But none has chosen to accept the challenge so far.
Dr. JP pointed out that EVMs are subject to scrutiny at three stages – by officials before they are installed, by contesting candidates before elections and by their representatives on the day of polling.
Dr. JP recalled that the AIADMK led by Ms. Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu and the Congress led by Mr. Amarinder Singh in Punjab had both sought Supreme Court intervention to stall the use of EVMs. In the elections that followed the Supreme Court’s dismissal of their petitions, both the parties swept the elections and formed Governments. In the latest instance, the TRS won the by-elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly which witnessed use of both EVMs and printed ballot papers in different constituencies.
Dr. JP charged that certain political parties are trying to explain away their failure to win the hearts and minds of voters with their policies and programs by blaming it on EVMs.
He appealed to the Maharashtra Government to release Mr. Hari Prasad of Hyderabad, who was arrested in connection with a missing electronic voting machine (EVM), and drop the case registered against him.
Dr. JP likened Mr. Hari Praasad, a technical coordinator for an NGO, Citizens for Verification, Transparency and Accountability in Elections, to a whistle-blower who wanted to improve the electoral system. He might have taken some ill-advised steps in the process but he harbored no ill-will against the Election Commission.
Victimizing Mr. Hari Prasad by the Maharashtra Government for his whistle-blower activity would be akin to arresting a reporter who offers a bribe to a politician or official as part of a sting operation.
Dr. JP said that the Election Commission officials lodged a first information report with the Maharashtra police about a missing EVM as early as in May 2010 and left the matter at that. The Maharashtra police arrested Mr. Hari Prasad at his residence in Hyderabad as a follow-up to the complaint. In this whole episode, the Election Commission acted with commendable restraint, dignity and probity.
Dr. JP announced that the Lok Satta Party would extend legal aid to Mr. Hari Prasad. He said that the Foundation for Democratic Reforms will take the initiative to organize a national workshop by involving all the stakeholders including Election Commission officials and experts in electronics to dispel misgivings over EVMs once and for all.
For Lok Satta Party
Well said by JP. I think the key is – can these machines be tampered UNDER ACTUAL CONDITIONS OF USE? That's the key question. I don't think so, but this is the ONLY RELEVANT QUESTION to be explored.
Sanjeev,
On the matter of EVM security, you should consider the views of experts in the domain rather than politicians or bureaucrats. Thanks to Ashwani for the ACM conf. paper and I feel a paper published in such a top class conference is much more authentic than any politically motivated arguments. Moreover, as credibility of electoral process is of at most importance in democracy, EC should always try to address the concerns of people rather than suppressing them with force.
After all there is no EMERGENCY DECLARATION yet. :)
@Supratim, looks either you EC agent or die hard political party supporter.
World has proved that EVMs more vulnerable compared to paper vote system. This is the reason US and many other country stopped using EVMs. In the country like India, where Navin Chawla like person become CEC, EVMs is/can be misused frequently. Paper voting system can also be misused, in fact misused many times in India, but still its a bit transparent and less vulnerable as compared to EVMs.
Also, if EC is so confident that EVMs can't be hacked then they can ask Indian govt to sell this (so called) superior technology to west and make money. This way west will also accept the superiority of Indian EVMs.
The police are charging Hari for having “stolen” the EVM.
This charge is nothing to do with tampering or tamperability.
Whether the “chastity” (or lack thereof) of these EVMs is relevant to the average voter leaving satisfied that he had punched the right buttons, is an altogether different discussion !
To the police, Hari is a thief. It is then no wonder that “respectable people” will want to be seen distanced from an alleged thief (to avoid “guilt by association”). Their reactions are predictable from a psychological perspective.
To me, it is very clear that the police just want to hold Hari in their hand for some time for “investigation”. The ultimate target is not Hari, but probably some civil servant who may have wanted more light shed on the reliability and security (or lack thereof) of EVMs and turned the EVM over to Hari for analysis.
Is there any law in India protecting anonymity of the source ? If Hari resists, survives torture and investigation and successfully protects his source, he will probably be charged for receiving stolen property. Hari must answer whether that will be personally satisfying for him.
A role model that India celebrates, Mahatma Gandhi had broken the law and gone to jail several times for what he thought was right. Are we asking Hari to emulate the Mahatma ?
My view is that, if India has no hope, Hari should just immigrate !
@RK on paper based voting:
The best of both worlds seems to be electronic voting with a paper trail for audit purposes. In case of any dispute, the paper trail is tallied.
But all voting machines have problems, there is a group of US citizens analyzing their “black box” voting machines: http://blackboxvoting.org/
It was also reported that the Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that its citizens must be able to verify election results, reliably, and without any specialized knowledge about voting machines. Since that can’t be achieved with electronic voting, Germany elected to revert to paper ballots.
Is that backward or forward ? :)
@Supratim: “so you need physical access to hack them”
I am sure EC officials, and engineers and technicians who handle these devices all have physical access. Why assume that attacks will originate from the internet, and then demolish that claim ?
“have to ensure that each polling booth knows, in advance, which is the memory stack so compromised and that the EC observor allocates that button to your candidate.”
Assume that the EC observer is told beforehand to allocate the candidate of ‘XYZ’ party on btton 3 (for example). Is that impossible ?
Perhaps some of these problems can be addressed if the EC revises the procedures and the operating manual, and I am open to that idea.
The code may be intricate and require a rare or highly paid person to modify the code. That is the power of technology, but that is beside the point. Apparently we have only three people left who understand the code (says a report quoting what Dr Indiresan mentioned at the international forum). What happens when this number is down to 2, or down to zero ? Does that mean better security ? I doubt so ! Nothing is to be gained in terms of EVM security if we were to erase the brains of these three coders or consign them to lifelong solitary confinement. In short, there is no security in obscurity.
@Is Paper better, ya the electronic voting with a paper trail for audit purposes can be one of the best options. But as you pointed out, at present none of the voting machine technology is secure enough.
If our EC & present central govt. is reluctant to accept the truth about present EVMs and NOT willing to go back to old Paper voting system. Then, I think, other good option would be to computerise the voting system. In India, at least at present infrastructure, its near impossible to computerise the voting system. BUT if EC and central govt can't do all these then it would be better to go back to paper voting system like other countries.
@ security -
You raise important points. I can logically deduce some answers, but others are in the realm of speculation.
But, I agree that the EC harms its own cause by citing obscurity as a strength, rather than a weakness – they should invite hackers and then modify their programs based on that. They are shooting themselves in the foot by saying "trust us, we know better" – no scientist would ever make such a claim and then say, sorry you can reproduce my experiment. That is the core of the problem. Unfortunately, political supporters on the Internet, especially, sniff a huge conspiracy rather than pigheadedness – I keep asking this question – why did LK Advani and Jayalalitha decline to sue? WHY?
Now, on to your specific points -
"I am sure EC officials, and engineers and technicians who handle these devices all have physical access. Why assume that attacks will originate from the internet, and then demolish that claim ?"
Good, so you do agree that internet hacking or wireless hacking is far-fetched – after all, this is one of the claims made by Hari et al.
Physical hacking – yes, you are perfectly correct. Individual engineers can possibly hack the machine (not looking at probability here) – but then, the next question is do thousands of engineers then go out and hack hundreds of thousands of machines or do a few engineers hack most of them? The first one implies a gigantic conspiracy – I am unable to accept that we have such a big conspiracy and no one has squealed or leaked – this is impossible, like conspiracy theories of fake moon landings.
The second implies availability of time – but, you do not have time. There is only a limited window during which the machines are available to engineers on the "shopfloor" – so, how do you get over the time factor? I am open to suggestions.
"Assume that the EC observer is told beforehand to allocate the candidate of ‘XYZ’ party on btton 3 (for example). Is that impossible ?"
Possible – entirely possible, assuming that you have FIRST done a machine hack to ensure the memory table malfunction. But, what about the political observers from each party at each booth – they have the ability to object. Unless, you are saying that BJP political observers have been bought off by congress parties – is this even tenable or feasible? A even more gigantic conspiracy?
"Perhaps some of these problems can be addressed if the EC revises the procedures and the operating manual, and I am open to that idea."
Agreed, 100%. More transparency, not less.
"Apparently we have only three people left who understand the code (says a report quoting what Dr Indiresan mentioned at the international forum). What happens when this number is down to 2, or down to zero ? Does that mean better security ? I doubt so ! Nothing is to be gained in terms of EVM security if we were to erase the brains of these three coders or consign them to lifelong solitary confinement. In short, there is no security in obscurity."
Agreed 100% on the obscurity bit – but, this is basic machine code, at the end of the day, for an addition machine – this is not rocket science. Each button is hard coded to a counter, which is then linked to a memory card. The machine probably has FPGAs to direct the electrical impulse to each counter (which counts as 0 or 1), which is then directed to each memory stack within the memory module. If I remember correctly, there are 16 buttons, and hence 16 memory stacks – more candidates require more than one EVM.
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To all those chaps going on about US and Germany not using EVMs from NEC or whomsoever should remember that those were MORE complicated machines. In programming, there is a basic rule – the more complex you make something, the more the chance that you have left a hole. Our EVMs are nothing but dumbed down adding machines - try hacking your cheap, sealed calculator and see how far you proceed!
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Paper trail for EVMs have been proposed by many analysts – but, the problem is that the printer paper will only say that you pushed button #3 – is that an acceptable audit trail?
cheers
supratim
Oh, BTW, the EC has called for an all-party meet on the EVMs – each party is welcome to submit their suggestions to the EC and also share their concerns.
Prior to the upcoming Bihar elections, a couple of ex-IAS officers have suggested additional safeguards to check that the current machines have not been hacked or manipulated in any way.
We will see how this develops and what is the next conspiracy angle. Heh.
cheers