THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 23 MAY 2019 (The EVM excuse: Bogey of EVM switching is an outrageous attempt to deny public opinion (Indian Express))

The EVM excuse: Bogey of EVM switching is an outrageous attempt to deny public opinion (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: EVM
Mains level: Bogey of EVM switching

Context

• It is not difficult to see why the current manufactured controversy on EVM reliability has been met with universal derision, except among members of the Khan Market gang.
• In the age of social media and screenshots, the public memory has been enhanced.
• They remember that Rahul Gandhi and his compatriots had raised a similar din just a few months ago and then happily accepted the results when it favoured them.
• The public remembers that in fact the originator of EVM bogey posted on February 4, 2015, that he suspected massive EVM tampering in Delhi and proceeded to accept the verdict a week later.

Background

• The information disseminated by the Election Commission has convinced most sane people that hacking EVMs is not possible, since they are stand-alone machines with no networking with the external world.
• This is why the din this time is not on EVM rigging or manipulation, but EVM replacement. EC procedures make it impossible for anyone to replace even one EVM.
• But even if we consider the outrageous theory plausible, consider what it entails: Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Telangana, Punjab, Karnataka, Odisha and Tamil Nadu all have non-BJP governments. Some states have never had a BJP government.
• Even in states where BJP is currently in office, like Uttar Pradesh, regional parties have networks at all levels.

Fake propaganda on EVM

• From the people who pack and transport the EVMs, to those who man the CCTV cameras in strong rooms to those who provide the outer security ring, all are drawn from the local state machinery.
• If the EVM replacement theory were true, it would mean the BJP is orchestrating a nationwide conspiracy involving millions of people who are all keeping the secret.
• Even the scriptwriters of Game of Thrones would envy such a perfect plot.
• As the recent CSDS-Lokniti pre-poll survey notes, Modi’s popularity has increased substantially, among both BJP as well as non-BJP voters, as compared to 2014.
• In fact, when CSDS-Lokniti surveyors asked voters, in a close-ended question, what they had kept in mind while voting (the party or the candidate), around 17 per cent chose neither option and instead said that what had mattered to them the most was the prime ministerial candidate (Modi).
• The same survey notes that the difference between the preference for Modi and his nearest rival is as high as 20 per cent.

Way forward

• In the last five years, there has been no finding in any pre-poll survey, reporting from the ground, anecdotal evidence, social media trends, participation in political rallies and in any of the just-released exit polls which would suggest that there was any disenchantment with the Modi-led BJP.
• None of these involved the use of EVMs.
• The result of the final exam, which will come on May 23, through EVMs, have been preceded by five years of a series of rigorous multi-pronged tests, each of which Modi has passed with flying colours.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to Mughal period 'muqaddams' were:
(a) Judicial officer at province
(b) Head of artisan community
(c) Worker in Mughal karkhanas
(d) Village level officer

Answer: D
Mains Questions:
Q.1) So, if the EVMs only confirm what every other indicator has been pointing at that Modi is the defining Indian political phenomenon of this century will it be a surprise?