India’s e-elections rigged? an IIT graduate indicates manipulation in software

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: The Indian Election Commission (EC) could be sitting on a major election-rigging scandal, following a presentation on Friday showing how the software used in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) can be manipulated.

Omesh Saigal, an engineering graduate and former Delhi chief secretary, stunned the EC with a presentation showing that the software used in the EVMs can be manipulated to favour a particular party or candidate. Following the presentation, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Navin Chawla ordered an inquiry into the possibility of such rigging during the recently concluded elections in India and Indian-held Kashmir (IHK).

Deputy Election Commissioner Balakrishnan was asked to conduct the inquiry on the basis of a report handed over by Saigal to the CEC, along with the software he had developed to show how the e-voting machines could be rigged.

Saigal, who is an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi alumni, demanded an urgent check of the programme that runs the EVMs used in elections since 2004. The demonstration showed that after just keying in a certain code, the EVMs put every fifth vote in favour of a certain candidate. In his letter to the CEC, Saigal alleged that the EVM software had not been checked by the EC since the machines were manufactured more than 6 to 7 years ago.

His argued that the EC merely relied on the certificates provided by the manufacturers, the government-run Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL). He alleged that the two firms had subcontracted private parties who actually provided the certificates.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg7_4