CEO to bring EVM tampering to EC’s notice for action
M. Malleswara Rao
Poll officials checking the functioning of EVMs.
HYDERABAD: Taking a serious note of reports questioning the tamper-proof feature of electronic voting machines (EVM), Chief Electoral Officer I. V. Subba Rao on Monday decided to bring these instances to the notice of the Election Commission for suitable action against them under law.
In a blog, an IIT graduate challenged this particular feature of the EVM being claimed by the EC as well as its makers  Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), saying that the data introduced into the EVM could be erased by exposing magnetic field to the machine.
Memory loss
The CEO also received reports suggesting that the EVM also would lose its memory if it was exposed to magnetised polythene paper or if a cloth coated with detergent powder was rubbed against it.
Mr. Rao told The Hindu that the EC would order an inquiry into the demonstrations allegedly held by some persons to show how the EVM data was vulnerable to tampering. First of all, the EC officials would find out how the demonstrators secured the machines which were not parted by the EC from anywhere in the country, under any circumstances.
He said the ECIL made the EVM after years of research. “The machine is robust and can withstand Indian weather conditions. Without power, it can work for two days. Its functioning is time-tested, having been used in successive elections. One can’t presume that it will go wrong.â€
He foresaw no problem to the polling in the State as 10 per cent of the 1.33 lakh EVMs provided to the State would be kept as “buffer stockâ€.
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