Page 53 - ICE BUSINESS TIMES February 2020

EVMs –
Digital means of fraud?
Many politicians have argued that
EVM is a non-transparent technology;
which leads to fraudulent voting
activities. And there have been cases
this has been rightfully proved.
During the 2018 Election, around
5,045 EVMs were selectively placed in
six constituencies. Upon visiting the
sites, a national newspaper has
reported that many of the voters have
claimed that their ballots were
claimed by someone else. Another
issue that arose during that time was
that the polling was halted for a few
hours due to malfunctioning units.
Many of the voters even claimed to be
How does an EVM function? Are EVMs widely coaxed by party thugs and were
‘instructed’ to vote for particular
At first, voters need to identify used? candidates.
themselves via fingerprint, NID or India has long been using
smartcard. Upon inserting their EVMs for their elections.
document, their information appears Many other countries of the Friend or Foe?
on the screen, which is then verified by world, like Namibia, Nepal, The bottom line is this – Electronic
the presiding Polling Officer. Once the Armenia, Bhutan, Voting Machines undeniably have their
voter has been confirmed to be Australia, Belgium, fair share of benefits. The Election
verified, the balloting unit then gets Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland, Commission of Bangladesh has high
activated. The voter is then permitted Canada, are well known for hopes of using EVMs in order to ensure
to step into the compartment that using electronic voting transparent voting events. At the same
contains the balloting unit. mechanisms. Bangladesh time, these EVMs are not completely
The balloting unit comprises of a recently has quite a safe from malpractices either. So
screen and a few buttons. The screen successful run in properly instead of arguing about this new
shows the name of the candidates and using EVMs across generation voting system’s
their respective symbols. And on the Bangladesh’s effectiveness, proper action should be
left of the screen, there are a set of parliamentary elections in taken to ensure that the voting events
buttons where each button represents Dhaka-6 and-13, are free from the hands of goons and
one candidate. In order to cast a vote, Chattogram-9, Rangpur-3, political thugs. Only then can we
the voter needs to press the button Khulna-2 and Satkhira-2. ensure the true essence of democracy;
beside the candidate’s name and However, some have where every man and woman have their
symbol. Upon pressing, the particular opposed the usage of EVMs rights to choose their leaders and work
button gets illuminated for a few in Bangladesh. together to build a better nation.
seconds. To confirm the vote, the voter
then needs to push the “Green” button.
In case the voter has mistakenly voted
for the wrong candidate, their vote can
be undone as long as they have not
pressed the “Green” button yet. To do
so, the voter simply has to press the
“Red” button of the balloting unit.
This will cancel the previous vote that
they have casted. Then the voter needs
What is an EVM? to begin from the very start. Choosing
Simply put, an Electronic Voting Machine is a digital alternative to his desired candidate, pressing the
our traditional ballot box-based voting mechanism. First introduced corresponding button, confirming their
in North Paravur Assembly Constituency in Kerala in 1982, this vote via pressing the “Green” button
device is constructed of two particular components - a control unit again. Please note that once the voter
that is operated by a polling officer and a balloting unit placed has pressed the “Green” button, the
inside the voting compartment. action cannot be undone.

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