Free and fair elections are the bedrock of a democracy. Its on the simple act of casting a vote that the most evolved form of governance known to us rests. In India,the process is made extraordinary by the sheer size of its electorate 714 million in the 2009 general elections making it the largest and most complex exercise of democratic franchise in the world. What cut through the unwieldiness of Indian elections and its scourge of invalid votes has been the introduction of the electronic voting machine,replacing the cumbersome and prone-to-be-misused paper ballots. EVMs reduced the time in casting a vote as well as in declaring results. The EVMs ease,transparency and resistance to hackers,which the Election Commission has time and again demonstrated and which has been validated by expert committees and court verdicts,however,has not satisfied everyone. After the last general elections,the anti-EVM chorus grew louder,with the BJP,CPM and the Trinamool joining in and saying that EVMs could be,and were,manipulated. Some senior politicians even sought to turn the clock back and return to the paper ballot even. Now the EC has said that its contemplating the introduction of a parallel paper trail to put an end to these misgivings. The suggestion by Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi,on whose watch the EC has been unflinching in its position on the efficacy of EVMs,is welcome. It addresses whatever residual doubts there may be about the EVM and,thereby,the very electoral process. The technique being considered works like this: after a voter casts her vote,she will get a printout showing the candidate she voted for. She will not be allowed to take this printout back. Instead,these would be kept in a box to ensure the secrecy of her choice,and equally to reassure candidates who have doubts about e-democracy. If it takes additional measures to quell doubts about the integrity of the electoral process,so be it. But this,in and of itself,must not be taken as confirmation about the vulnerability of EVMs to misuse.
