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Govt & Politics 

Verification of VVPAT slips: Top court says source code of EVMs cannot be disclosed 

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance

Mains Examination: GS-II: Governance, Constitution and Polity.

What’s the ongoing story- Stating that no candidate has yet pointed to a mismatch between the votes polled on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the slips printed by the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine, the Supreme Court Wednesday reserved its order on a bunch of petitions seeking 100 per cent verification of votes with the slips, saying it cannot issue directions on the basis of mere suspicion.

Prerequisites:

— What is an electronic voting machine (EVM)? How does it work? When were EVMs first used in elections?

— In which Lok Sabha election were EVMs used in every booth?

— What are VVPATs?

— Read Article 324 of the Indian Constitution and the Election Commission of India.

— Representation of People Act, 1981.

Key takeaways: 

— A two-judge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta also said “we cannot control elections” and “we are not the controlling authority of another constitutional authority”.

— The bench reiterated that the source code of the EVMs should not be disclosed as the Election Commission of India (ECI) informed it that the micro-controllers installed in the machines are one-time programmable and cannot be changed.

— Answering the bench’s query on the microcontroller of the machines on Wednesday, an ECI official explained that all three units in an EVM — a Ballot Unit, Control Unit and VVPAT — have their own microcontrollers housed in secure unauthorised access-detection modules.

— The official informed the court that the EVMs/VVPATs are stored for a period of 45 days after polling as the limitation period for filing election petitions under The Representation of People Act, 1981.

— “Upon expiry of the period, the Chief Electoral Officer writes to High Courts to ascertain if there are any election petitions filed for any constituency…It (concerned EVM) remains sealed and locked, nobody touches it” if any election petition is filed.

— Regarding their storage, he said that the Control Unit is the most important and is sealed with a pink seal at the time of first-level checking. “At the time of commissioning of EVMs and after the polling is over, all three units are sealed. After second randomisation and commissioning, all three are stored together in the strong room as a unit. After polling, a green paper seal is applied”.

For Your Information:

— EVMs are used to cast a vote without revealing voters identity. It is used in Indian General and State Elections. It has replaced paper ballots in local, state and general (parliamentary) elections in India.

— EVMs are assembled by two PSUs — Electronics Corporation of India Ltd and Bharat Electronics.

— The VVPAT was used for the first time in all 21 polling stations of the Noksen Assembly constituency of Nagaland in 2013. The 2019 Lok Sabha elections became the first general election to have 100% of EVMs being attached to VVPATs.

Points to Ponder: 

— What are the benefits of EVM in the elections as compared to the ballot box?

— What are the concerns associated with the use of EVMs?

— What measures can be taken to secure EVMs?

— What are the demerits of the ballot box election?

— What do you understand by the mandamus writ? What are the different types of writs mentioned in Article 32 of the Indian Constitution?

Post Read Question:

Prelims

Consider the following statements: (2017)

1. The Election Commission of India is a five-member body.

2. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs decides the election schedule for the conduct of both general elections and bye-elections.

3. Election Commission resolves the disputes relating to splits/mergers of recognised political parties.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 2 and 3 only

(d) 3 only

Mains

In the light of recent controversy regarding the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), what are the challenges before the Election Commission of India to ensure the trustworthiness of elections in India? (2018)

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

What is an EVM? How does it work?

Why VVPAT was brought in, why Opposition wants all slips verified

 

Investment in resilient infra essential in light of climate risks: PK Mishra

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: GS-III: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc, Disaster and Disaster Management.

What’s the ongoing story- Investment in resilient infrastructure systems is essential in the light of increasing climate risks and disasters and to close the broader infrastructure gaps, said Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister PK Mishra.

Prerequisites:

— What is the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)?

— Who are the members countries of CDRI?

— What is the  International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI)?

Key takeaways: 

— PK Mishra said-“We know that disaster and climate risks are increasing. In the recent past, we have seen flooding in Dubai, wildfires in Chile, earthquakes in the Pacific that have caused enormous infrastructure…