EC initiates scrutiny after ex-IAS officer’s questions on EVMs

In his tweets, Gopinathan alleged that with the introduction of VVPAT unit, the Ballot Unit of the EVM is not communicating directly with the Control Unit. He claimed that the VVPAT now controls what is shown on the paper slips and what gets registered on the Control Unit. Since VVPAT machines have a programmable memory, they are more vulnerable to hacking. Hence, compromising the whole voting process.

“VVPAT has a processor, and has a programmable memory, and it is what registers vote in the control unit. And if it has a processor and a programmable memory, it can be hacked. Any malware downloaded on to it can cause the entire system to misbehave,” he tweeted.

He said he had flagged his concerns regarding VVPATs on two different occasions, while still in service.

The EC issued a statement in response to Gopinathan’s tweets on Wednesday.

“Mr. Kannan Gopinathan, IAS (2012) who resigned recently was District Election Officer (DEO) and Returning Officer (RO) in Dadra & Nagar Haveli Parliamentary Constituency which has 304 polling stations. It would be recalled that the number of polling stations in 2019 Lok Sabha elections pan-India were around 10.36 lakh,” the EC stated.

“There was no document available where he has at any point of time sent any written analysis on the issue which he is now raising immediately post his resignation,” it said.

The statement said, “In answer to something to this effect in his tweets he said that he raised the issue in some internal meeting. In meetings taken by CEOs several issues are mentioned, as they should be, by the DEOs and ROs. However, there is a difference between anecdotal mentioning of an issue and the mentioning backed by a written report raising any kind of doubts as the issue that he is now suddenly raising immediately after resigning.”

“Nonetheless a more rigorous scrutiny even of this is being got done. It would be recalled that 1.25 crore VVPAT slips that were counted and matched with the EVM count not a single case of transfer of vote from one candidate to another has been found.”