How safe are EVMs? Sumy evacuation, and NMC scraps upper age limit

Next, Shubhajit Roy explains how joint efforts helped the stranded Indian students out of war-torn Ukraine’s Sumy.

And finally, we go over details of NMC’s notice to withdraw the age limit for NEET UG exams.

TRANSCRIPT

Snigdha Sharma: Hi, I’m Snigdha Sharma and you’re listening to 3 Things, The Indian Express news show. In this episode we talk about electronic voting machines. We also discuss the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine’s Sumy and we also go over the NMC scrapping of the upper age limit criteria. Beginning with EVMs. On Wednesday, three officials were removed from election duty in Uttar Pradesh and this comes just a day after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the ruling BJP of stealing votes and claiming that electronic voting machines were being shifted in an unauthorised manner. He had also claimed that the vehicles transporting ballots were intercepted in at least three districts. The Election Commission then decided to replace the officials. So now that the results for these assembly elections are about to be declared, how do these EVM machines actually work? And how safe are they really, Indian Express’  Ritika Chopra join the show to give us some insights. So Ritika first of all, can you tell us how do EVM machines actually work?

Ritika Chopra: So the EVM machine, the one that you see in a polling booth has three components, if I can call it that it has the control unit, it has the ballot unit, and very recently, it now also has the VV bat, the paper audit trail. So I’m sure everyone’s familiar with the drill, you walk into the polling station, the polling officer will check for your name on his voters’ list. And then before you go to cast your vote, they ink your finger to ensure that no one else cast a bogus vote against your name. And once you’re in that polling compartment, that usually sort of a makeshift, in most polling stations, you’ll see that there is this either made out of a flex or a cardboard small compartment, which covers the EVM and then you wait for the polling officers go ahead because they activate the machine that is the control unit. And after you get the polling officers go ahead, you press the button against the ballot of the candidate for whom you want to vote for and that is the ballot unit. And once you have pressed the button and the vote is cast, you can immediately verify whether your vote has been cast correctly because adjacent to that that is the paper audit trail machine, this machine will produce a slip of paper on which you will be able to see the symbol of the party or other symbol of the candidate against which he or she is contesting elections, and is displayed in that small window for about seven seconds. And then that slip gets collected into a compartment below. So the current election process such is that not only are you able to cast your vote, but but for a few seconds after that you are able to verify whether it has been cast correctly.

Snigdha Sharma: Right. So next, if you can tell us how are these machines stored when there are no elections going on.

Ritika Chopra: So during peacetime, if I could call it that even¢¢ between elections, the EVMs are stored in a district and they’re normally in a warehouse and this warehouse is under the supervision of the district election officer who’s actually the district magistrate. Of course, this warehouse is secured by lock, the court policeman guarding it. It is also under CCTV surveillance. And in between elections, these EVMs cannot be moved out of the warehouse without prior permission of the election commission. And actually it is in these warehouses where the first level check of the machines happen. By first level check, I mean, the preliminary check that the engineers do to see whether the machines are operating fine .  Okay. And next, Ritika if you can tell us, what happens when elections are around the corner? Closer to an election what happens is that, as I mentioned earlier, the elections are kept securely in a warehouse at a district level, and that’s under the control of the district election officer. But once elections dates are drawing closer, what the commission does, and by the Commission, by the way, I mean, the election machinery, of course, these are a lot of these government officers on the ground who are executing all of this not the commission officials per se. These are officers at the disposal of the election commission. And these deputed officers, what they do is that closer to the election, this is the first round of randomization that happens. By that I mean that the ATMs are very randomly allocated to different assembly segments. So there are a lot of assemblies as we know, for instance, if we’re talking about a state election, there are a lot of assemblies and which EVM will be deployed for which assembly is decided by a software and this is called the first round of randomization. Once that is decided from this point on the returning officer will take over. And then these machines which have been allotted to different constituencies will then be taken to designated strong rooms. Once these machines reach to strong rooms, a second round of randomization happens. Now what the software decide is which ATMs are meant for which specific polling stations. I do want to point this out though I mean, even earlier, when the first level check happens in the warehouse during peacetime in between elections, or for instance, the first level of randomization in the warehouse, and eventually the second round of randomization in a strong room. All of this, by the way, is done in the presence of contesting candidates and their polling agents, there is an open invitation, they can all sort of be present while all of this is happening. The Commission does is to ensure that there is faith and trust in the electoral process, because that pretty much is the foundation for conducting an election successfully because people and candidates should feel that this is being done in a transparent manner. So even in the second round of randomization, when these are being commissioned to different polling stations, candidates may choose to remain absent during the process. But the commission does send out an invite and expects them to be present or rather wants them to be present during this process so that there are no questions raised later. And once the second round of randomization has happened, obviously, the EVM has three parts, the control unit, the ballot unit, and the VV bat. So after the second round of randomization, what they do is that now they will arrange the ballot papers in a way depending on the candidates who are contesting in that specific assembly segment. So like I mentioned in the ballot unit, you will see the party’s symbol on a ballot paper against each button. So that’s what they do after the second round of randomization, where they fix ballot papers on the ballot unit of the EVM. And once that is done, then these machines are locked away. And they remain that way it will the date of polling. And in the meantime, there are security guards, there is a senior police officer who’s pretty much in charge and under his supervision, these strong rooms are guarded. And this room when it’s locked, it is also sealed. And the candidates also are allowed to put their own seal on these locks.

Snigdha Sharma: Okay so, Ritika we know what happens to EVM machines before elections and how they function while voting. Now if you can tell us what goes on after the polling is over?

Ritika Chopra: So after the voting is over, the machines are not immediately packed away and brought back to the strong room. I mean that this strong room is the eventual destination. But what the polling officer does is, rather the presiding officer does is that she would make a record of how many votes have been recorded in the machine and a copy of this physical record that has been made of how many votes have been pulled in every machine is given to each candidate. This again, like I mentioned, you know, the objective of the entire exercise is to try and ensure you’re able to win the trust of the candidates and the public at large. All of this has been done in a free and transparent manner, which is why this copy also provided to every candidates polling agent, and they have they put their signatures and then the EVM machine itself is sealed. And the candidates or their agents kind of are allowed to put their signature on these seals, and they can check for any signs of tampering. After that what happens is that then the aliens are transported back to the strong room. And even then the candidates or the polling agents are allowed to accompany not a company in the sense, you know, their cars or their vehicles can actually trail and check that the EVMs are being transported securely from the polling station to the strong room. And once the EVMs are brought back to the strong room, again, this room is locked, it’s sealed, and the candidates again or his or her representative can put their own seal or locks as well. And after that also the candidate or a representative of the candidate is allowed to even guard the strong rooms. Aside from the layers of security that’s provided by the Commission, which includes central forces and policemen, the candidates or the representatives are also kind of encouraged to keep a watch on their room so that they remain assured that these EVMs are being stored safely. Then once the strong room has been sealed and locked, this room will not be open till the day of counting for whatever reason if that room had to be opened before the day of counting that, again, will be done in presence of the candidates representative or polling agent.

Snigdha Sharma: Okay, so now that we understand how these machines work, and you know, the whole process seems quite foolproof, tell us, why are these questions always raised about the authenticity of these machines when elections are going on?

Ritika Chopra: So I mean, this, of course, is not new. Frankly, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve actually explained this and especially since the last Uttar Pradesh election. I think more recently, this whole controversy about the EVMs and the susceptibility of the electronic voting machine, this whole narrative that was revived after the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2017. It’s not something new but it was pretty much dead in between and it was came up in a big way after the BJP lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2004, and you know, it will rear its face in between, but it pretty much has refused to die since 2017. And this theory is usually obviously the losing political party which starts resorting to this. But what’s interesting is that every time the EVMs are blamed, or the polling officers are blamed, the political parties haven’t really been able to provide any concrete proof to prove this large scale conspiracy of EVM tampering , obviously not my place  But people would believe that, you know, instead of looking within and figuring out why they lost in elections, possibly easier to blame the EVM. But all of these controversies come up right after the election, while it’s good, actually that people are keeping an eye on it. And frankly, to be honest, there have been lapses where, you know, during the transportation while it’s very clear, the Commission makes it clear that you know, the EVMs have to be transported straight from the police station to the strong room. There are election officials here and there who tell us that look, you know, we also need to understand the ground realities where these officers have been working for hours on, you know, because they start very early in the morning, they transport the EVMs and they finish really late. And sometimes there have been instances of them stopping over at some place, and that is caught on camera. And it’s alleged that the whole process is compromised, atleast they are attempts to compromise it. But in such cases, action has been taken against earning officers. But again, like I said, there’s been no concrete evidence of tampering the electronic voting machine, there could be rigging in the sense that maybe somebody has cast a bogus vote, but to say that machine has been tampered in a way that no matter what vote or what choice I exercise, a vote will be cast only in the favour of a specific candidate, a specific party. No one’s been able to prove that beyond making these allegations is what I’m trying to say. And this only happens on the day of the result. I’m presuming because it’s convenient to blame the machine as opposed to figuring out what really went wrong.

Snigdha Sharma: Right. And also one more question Ritika, since you know, these questions are regularly raised, you know about the susceptibility of these machines to being compromised, I just wanted to ask you, has the election commission looked into it?

Ritika Chopra: As far as machine per se is concerned, they have always held this open challenge. This has happened on two occasions, at least one I think was immediately after Uttar Pradesh elections only where they said they look you are saying these machines can be tampered and you come and you show how this machine can be tampered. So to that there was never really I mean, I don’t think anyone really accepted that challenge. So the Commission on two occasions at least, remember they did that. Meanwhile, they do take feedback, and they keep upgrading the machine. So like last time, I mean, their last ditch effort in restoring faith in the EVM machine, they try doing it by introducing the audit trail component where you can sit and verify and even then, if you’re not happy, then a certain percentage of the votes cast will actually be compulsorily verified.

Snigdha Sharma: And now coming to the Ukraine crisis, we all are aware how the last batch of Indian students who stuck in Ukraine Sumy, multiple ceasefires, failed, and initial attempts by the Indian government to get them out did not work. However, on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and sought their support for the safe and quick evacuation of Indian students. So how did it finally work out? Shubhajit Roy draw join the show to tell us.  So Shubhajit, we know that this evacuation from Sumy finally worked out after so many days of failed attempts after our Prime Minister Modi spoke to both Putin and Zelenskyy, so if you can start by telling us more about the conversation between them.

Shubhajit Roy: Prime Minister Modi made these two phone calls on Monday where Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who are in the middle of a conflict in the conversation with both leaders, the Indian Prime Minister conveyed to them the urgency with which India wants to evacuate citizens. The last big batch of Indian students about 700 of them from Sumy which is in northeastern Ukraine because they couldn’t move out because there was ongoing shelling, this battle going on. So he conveyed the urgency of evacuating them. And the principal point was that if both sides could have a ceasefire and both sides adhere to the ceasefire, then the Indian citizens could be evacuated. Both leaders, the Russian president and the Korean President agreed on the ceasefire shortly after that. They instructed officials, the Indian officials were asked to follow up the conversation after that and External Affairs Mr. Jaishankar, he made some calls. Then the Defence Ministry reached out to their counterparts in both the countries. The Indian ambassador in Moscow, Pawan Kapoor and the Indian ambassador in Kyiv, Pastor Satpati, both these ambassadors also made their calls. There were a lot of messages exchanged. And then the both sides agreed to ceasefire.

Snigdha Sharma: Right. So can you tell us more about the actual arrangements that were made to facilitate this entire operation?

Shubhajit Roy: The ceasefire was agreed after these messages and phone calls between the two sides. And then Red Cross in Geneva was contacted and who then asked the Red Cross in Ukraine to facilitate the evacuation, so they help their bit. And the Indian Embassy through the local contacts, they hired vehicles given to understand that about 10 to 12 buses, which were pressed into service. Now there were a dearth of, a scarcity of drivers to drive those vehicles. So the Ukrainian army personnel drove some of those vehicles, there was a shortage of fuel because there’s a war going on. So the local Ukrainian contacts were able to get petrol because they were going to travel long distances. Also, the roads have been damaged because of shelling. some bridges had broken, have been destroyed because of the ongoing bombing there. So it was quite a difficult and tense sort of evacuation journey that these buses had to undertake, before they could reach Sumy gather all the students, all the Indian citizens from different pickup points from one hostel to another, they moved and picked up these Indian students who then came back in these twelve buses to a city in central Ukraine.

Snigdha Sharma: Okay, and let’s see if you can tell us about how they actually got out of there.

Shubhajit Roy: So my understanding is, they are on their way on the train, they reached the central Ukrainian town. And from there, they’re now on a train on on route to the western borders from where they will be evacuated sometime tomorrow, or early morning day after because what’s happening is once they crossover, there are certain formalities that have to be done. They have also been in a stressful situation. So they would be kept under a bit of rest before they will be flown down in three planes, at least have been kept in standby so that these Indian citizens can be evacuated from Ukraine and then the Western countries in these two west of Ukraine.

Snigdha Sharma: Right. So Shubhajit finally, if you can end by telling us, you know how sort of everyone came together to make this evacuation work out. We want to know more about the people who made this happen.

Shubhajit Roy: The government reached out to all the resources attached because at the end of the day, the Indian Embassy is quite a small Indian Embassy barely dozen officials and staff some Ukrainian nationals who work at the embassy, so they had to rely on local contacts, whether some Indian citizens who are based there, as well as some Ukrainian nationals who have been in close touch close contacts of the Indian Embassy. So these were the people who got together to get this evacuation going. So that’s how this evacuation process came through.

Snigdha Sharma: You were listening to 3 Things by the Indian Express. Today’s show was written and produced by me Snigdha Sharma and was edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar. You can follow us and leave us feedback on Facebook or Twitter at @Expresspodcasts or send us an email at podcasts@Indian express.com and if you like the show, please do subscribe and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts from, so more people can find us. You can also look for us in the audio section in the top right corner of our website Indianexpress.com