EVMs and Unanswered Questions – Part II
Recap from yesterday:
The serious questions being asked include:
- If the polling was not even complete how could “votes polled†data be available for all but 47 of the 8071 candidates?
- If EVM’s were secure with DEO/district collectors, and elections were not even held in many constituencies, how was the data for 8023 candidates or all but 47 of the 8071 candidates available to the ECI on files downloaded between these dates?
…If this is a Mistake, Why No Clarifications from the ECI?
Read on:
On the 6th of May Anupam and Prof Nalapat asked the ECI to clarify whether the spreadsheet that had “votes polled” for each candidate contained test data, actual votes polled or was it a wrong file?
On 31st May, they made another formal request to the ECI specifically asking:
Can you kindly indicate what the data in the CandidateAC downloaded from http://eci.nic.in/candidateinfo/frmcandidate.aspx file between the 6th and 15th is? Why is the Final votes polled data not uploaded till date at this location? When do you plan to upload it?”
On the 7th of July 2009, they sent another, more detailed request for clarification.
The response of ECI?
Nothing…no comment at all.
This is hardly reassuring and raises all kinds of questions. The most important – however outrageous it may sound – being: “Were the results of some Lok Sabha constituencies decided even before polling?”
.
As Anupam and Prof Nalapat noted in their article in Covert, there are not too many ways in which the information about “votes polled” in the spreadsheet on the ECI website could have changed BEFORE the results were actually announced.
Realistically, this could have only happened if:
- Someone had hacked the file.
- The data from various EVMs had been uploaded to the private database, and this was used to create the public file.
- Someone who had access to the private database had actually added the data.
In their own words (emphasis mine):
The first possibility is serious, as it implies that the databases hosted by the ECI are not secure and can be compromised. The second is a violation of the ECI’s rule that no counting was to begin till 16 May. It also constitutes a breach of security, as the EVMs were supposed to be in safe custody in a strong room of the DEO [district election officer]. The third would imply that the election results were being decided by whoever had access to the private database. If the results were to be read only from the EVMs, why was a coded spreadsheet prepared? How could this spreadsheet have the data on “votes polled�
Sceptics might say that the coded data containing information on the votes polled was test or dummy data. If so, why was this test or dummy data prepared? What was being tested? How was this test data generated? What were the results of the tests? Why was the data generated after the first three phases of polling, but before the fourth and fifth phases? Why was the data removed when there was no intention of loading real data into the file? Why was the dummy data coded? How do 108 winning candidates in the dummy data match the eventual winners?
If you are still not convinced that something has gone wrong somewhere, this last bit will probably clinch the argument:
The various versions of the files downloaded from ECI website by Nalapat-Saraph on 6th, 7th and 11th May and the data were merged together along with the final results found on ECI site on June 2nd…
2. Candidates in every constituency were ranked as 1, 2 and 3 on the basis of the votes seen in ECI excel sheets on 6th, 7th and 11th May.
3. Then the same candidates were ranked within each constituency based on the votes recorded on June 2nd spreadsheet by ECI.
The Result?
- Out of 543 constituencies, we find 106 winning positions (rank 1) matched for all four dates
- 80 candidates matched for the rank 2 and
- 59 for the rank 3…
Basic probability theory suggests that such a coincidence is practically impossible…
So what exactly was happening?
Will we ever find out? I am not hopeful.
Interestingly, buried within the avalanche of “breaking stories”, I found this snippet in the ET last week (emphasis mine):
CPM leaders (Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury), accompanied by member secretariat V Srinivasa Rao and a technical expert Prabir Purkayastha, told the commission and technical experts present at the meeting that both hardware and software should be in public domain. Further, it said the chips manufactured by ECIL, BEL should be allowed for yearly random third-party inspections either by NIC or IITs.
…They said these steps were necessary to ‘restore the ‘confidence’ in EVMs as there have been “reporting of errors in some machines and discrepancies in results”.
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Related Post: On EVMs and Some Unanswered Questions
One way to speculate is to find out how many from the “test data” ended up on the winning side.
If it was dummy data, then as per probability, the 108 will be distributed among various parties, not equally but definitely not in side’s favour.
If a large part of the winners from the “test data” was of the winning side, then there is a problem.
With naveen chavla as election commissioner, do you expect accountability?
I am running a campaign against EVMs. Pls see http://rahulmehta.com/evm.pdf
If possible, pls call me at XYZ
*** NOTE by MODERATOR ***
Mobile no. deleted. Pl. avoid posting personal information here including mobile numbers, addresses etc.
@ Anon: Yes, that would be an interesting analysis…I believe the files are all on the wikia link cited in Part I.
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@ AG: Perhaps not.
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@ Anonymous: Will check the link.
This news is guaranteed to be ignored by media:
ECIL Engineers Test EVMs
September 26th, 2009
SEPPA: A first level checking of the EVMs was conducted at Seppa Election office, by the highly skilled team of ECIL Engineers headed by S.C Sarkar from Hydrabad.
Out of total 347 checked control unit 30 were found defective.
***
Unfortunately no further details.
Extract from an email by Dr Anupam Saraph:
…nothing has come out of the EC visit, they have not clarified anything.
The least parties and citizens should do is insit on a receipt in the Maharashtra elections and if refused note the request in the register for complaints at each polling booth.
There should be an international movement for democratic reforms and standards- that should include the various reform issues. Many countries face similar problems. Connect the democratic reformers across the world.
Subramanian Swamy convenes conference on Feb 13 on EVMs
Chennai | Wednesday, Jan 6 2010 IST
Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy has convened an International Conference here on February 13 on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the light of reports of their tamperability.
In a statement here, Dr Swamy said about 35 experts from India, Germany and the US would be attending the conference to review the international experience with EVMs in the light of reports from several countries about the tamperability and the lack of transparency in polling of votes.
The German Supreme Court had recently banned the use of EVMs in elections based on these reports, he said, adding the Delhi High Court would take up for hearing his Public Interest Litigation on EVMs on February 17.
The Janata Party leader said Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla has been ”telling a blatant lie to the media that no one has yet been able to demonstrate the tamperability of EVMs.”
http://news. webindia123. com/news/ Articles/ India/20100106/ 1419942.html
‘EVMs illegally being used for a decade’-Ajay Jagga, High Court Lawyer
Sanjay Sharma, TNN, Feb 22, 2010, 03.44am IST
CHANDIGARH: The electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being used in violation of the Information Technology Act 2000, a research paper has revealed.
Author of the research paper, advocate Ajay Jagga, told The Times of India, on Sunday that as per IT Act, 2000, a verifiable audit trail has to be provided in case of any electronic record, which is now admissible as evidence as per Evidence Act but in case of electronic voting, the voter does not get any receipt with regard to his voting.
The research paper recently attracted the attention of experts when a conference on “EVMs: How trustworthy?” in Chennai passed a unanimous resolution on February 13 asking Jagga to approach the Election Commission of India (ECI) for bringing the electronic voting procedure in tune with IT Act, 2000.
Jagga said he would soon approach ECI seeking formation of legal committee to remove the illegality or will knock the doors of court.
The lawyer said, “Unless the voter gets a receipt like the one we get in ATM or after the use of debit or credit cards, all electronic transactions including a vote, are illegal.” What is the evidence that the vote cast has really been recorded and that it has been recorded in the manner the voter intended, he asked.
For the purpose and to protect the secrecy of ballot, all such receipts, after the voter has checked his transaction, should be put in a box which should remain with ECI to be produced as evidence in case of a dispute, he said. The government amended the relevant laws in 1989 to equate EVM with ballot and ballot box to facilitate transition from ballot paper to EVM but the IT Act 2000 created a new complication that has to be immediately resolved in the interest of fairness of things, Jagga pointed out.
Pl do read The “Ugly face†of the ECI: Arrest of Hari Prasad for “sting demonstration�.
I will try and post excerpts soon.
As many as 4,000 EVMs believed to have gone missing in AP in last 6 yrs. Why is this NOT news? http://bit.ly/geKPne
Excerpt from the article:
“The 2009 general elections, too, were held smoothly without any problems. After the political parties started complaining about tampering of EVMs and some NGOs demonstrated the vulnerability of EVMs, the state EC began verifying the stock registers of the EVMs.
They found the additional 4,000 EVMs were missing. They wrote to the collectors seeking information about these EVMs supplied in 2004 asking them to verify and submit the inventory. So far, there is no reply from the collectors, sources said.
…
The Vijayawada police received a complaint from Krishna district subcollector K. Dharma Reddy last week stating some EVMs were missing from the sub- collector office complex.
Suryaraopet police inspector R. J. Jayaraj said some unidentified persons stole the EVMs by breaking open the window grill of the room, where the machines were stored.
The police registered a case under Section 379 ( theft) and are interrogating some rag- pickers who had allegedly resorted to the theft and sold them to local iron scrap dealers.
“ According to our information, 10 EVMs and 15 control units were stolen. The police recovered six EVM units from the scrap dealers and the remaining might have been melted and used as scrap,†Lal said.
NGO Election Watch convener V. V. Rao said the missing EVMs had vindicated their argument that there was no security and hence they could be easily tampered with.
“ It needs five to 10 minutes to tamper with EVMs if they are taken out of safe custody. Imagine the fate of 4,000 EVMs, if they are missing for such a long time. It confirms the apprehensions about rigging of elections with such EVMs,†Rao said.
So, can we say that UPA knew about this and suppressed the news?
They arrested Hariprasad for borrowing one EVM. After the missing 4000 EVMs how many arrests they have made ? At least 4000 arrests should have been made by this time. How can we rely either the EC or the election they conduct in such a situation using EVMs ?
http://www.cse.umich.edu/~jhalderm/pub/papers/evm-ccs10.pdf
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/iciss10/tutorials.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlCOj1dElDY&feature=player_embedded
http://deshgujarat.com/2010/12/14/evm-reasercher-u-s-prof-deported-before-he-reached-gujarat/
Hope I am not posting the links already posted!
Please do have a look at this slideshow (directly related to this post): http://www.scribd.com/doc/88672146/India-s-Votegate-%E2%80%9CResults%E2%80%9D-before-voting-in-Lok-Sabha-2009
For the record, from EVMs ready for EC scrutiny, Apr 17, 2014:
…
…After the embarrassing “Gondia incidentâ€, the election commission has decided to strictly check the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) before installing them at polling stations.
…
uring phase I, in the Gondia-Bhandara constituency, around 22 machines were found faulty. All the votes that were cast on these machines went to a particular candidate and in this case, it was NCP’s Praful Patel. However, the election commission replaced the machines before the polling date, which was on April 10.
…
When asked if is it a precautionary measure taken by the election commission after the Gondia mishap, Dr Gursal said, “We have to take precautions before the actual polling.†He further stated that, “Many a times, the machines lie unused for a long period after the elections. So it may be possible that some faults may occur which are repairable. Each machine will be checked and then sealed in the presence of the above-mentioned members,†he said.
Good piece of investigation here:
How Secure Are India’s Elections? by Cleo Paskal