THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 04 APRIL 2019 (Proving a point on audit trail (The Hindu)

Proving a point on audit trail (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 1: Polity
Prelims level: VVPAT
Mains level: Election Process

Context

•  As the campaign for the 2019 general election builds up, so too with the debate on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs).
•  For example, as a result of a new development in the Nizamabad parliamentary constituency in Telangana, the Election Commission (EC) would have been forced to conduct elections using ballot papers
•  There are 185 candidates in the fray.
•  This exceeds the capacity of an EVM, which can cater to 64 candidates (63 candidates and the None of the Above, or NOTA, option). The EC is now considering using special machines which can accommodate up to 384 candidates. These will use 24 ballot units connected in series.
•  For this it will have to buy at an enormous cost 26,820 ballot units, 2,240 control units and 2,600 VVPATs.

In the past, in A.P.

•  The use of ballot papers to conduct elections is not new; they were used in the same State in 2010 in a near comic situation.
•  In July 2010, the Telangana agitation was at its peak, and 12 MLAs of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly had resigned and were contesting the by-elections. This coincided with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led anti EVM campaign.
•  After the EC turned down the request of political parties to go back to paper ballots, the parties resorted to a smart ploy.
•  The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) decided to field more than 64 candidates in each constituency.
•  So, there were 114 nominations in Yellareddy (then in Nizamabad district and 107 in Sircilla.
•  Even after large-scale rejection of nominations, the numbers in six constituencies exceeded 64. The EC was forced to conduct elections in these constituencies by ballot paper.
•  The EC took it as a great opportunity to showcase the relative strength of EVMs.
•  While the EVM results were available in four hours, the ballot paper results took 40 hours.
•  Adding to this were thousands of invalid votes.
•  The other issues were the economic and environmental costs of printing ballots and prolonged drudgery for polling staff. Ironically, the results from both systems across seats were similar.

Stringent trials

•  Since the last general election, there have been allegations about the BJP hacking EVMs. The EC has repeatedly challenged conspiracy theorists to demonstrate that EVMs can be hacked but no party has accepted it.
•  This debate should have ended in October 2010 when the EC called an all-party meeting which unanimously recommended the adoption of VVPATs, which was promptly accepted.
•  The two factories manufacturing EVMs were asked to develop VVPATs, and an independent committee of professors from five Indian Institutes of Technology was requested to monitor the process.
•  There were a series of trials, followed by two full-day election simulations in five cities across India (with different climatic conditions) in 2011-12.
•  Only after the VVPATs passed all the rigorous tests (climatic endurance and technology) were they deployed, initially in 20,000 polling booths.
•  As manufacturing progressed, all constituencies were equipped with VVPATs. In 2013, the Supreme Court lauded the EC’s initiatives, directing the government to release adequate funds for procurement for all booths for the 2019 elections.
•  Since 2017, all elections have been held with VVPAT-attached EVMs.
•  A total of 1,500 machines have been counted as per the present norm of counting slips generated by one VVPAT in each Assembly constituency. Not a single mismatch has been detected.

Sorting things out

•  The only pending issue is of VVPAT audits.
•  As many as 23 Opposition parties have moved the Supreme Court demanding that half the total slips be tallied.
•  A group of retired bureaucrats and diplomats has also written to the EC regarding the sample size to ensure 99.9% public satisfaction.
•  The EC has submitted to the court that the three-member expert panel comprising members from the Indian Statistical Institute, the Chennai Mathematical Institute and the Central Statistics Office has endorsed the current practice of counting one VVPAT per Assembly constituency, and that the sample size proposed by political parties would only serve to delay results by six days.
•  The judgment is expected soon.

Conclusion

•  EVMs have made India a proud global leader in elections.
•  After incorporating VVPATs, the system is now foolproof. After the expert panel report, the EC’s initiatives in this regard stand vindicated.
•  It should now clinch the EVM debate and utilise the opportunity in the Nizamabad constituency to demonstrate the relative superiority of the EVM as the wonder machine of Indian democracy.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Consider the following differences between skill development schemes STRIVE and SANKALP, recently launched by government:
1. While STRIVE is a centrally sponsored scheme, SANKALP is a central sector scheme.
2. While STRIVE aims at strengthening Industrial Training Institutes, SANKALP aims at building a pool of quality trainers and assessors.

Which of the following statements is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2 only
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: B

Mains Questions:
Q.1) Nizamabad has 185 candidates it is an opportunity for the Election Commission to settle the EVM and VVPAT debate . Comment