INDIA'S 2009 ELECTION DILEMMA : CHAOS VS GOVERNANCE-8

Revolt of Electronic Voting Machines

The caption is illogical : but attractive. Machines do not revolt in real life; but in science fiction they do. It is the humans who revolt, using machines as their shields.

This article is all rumours, guess work and allegations; but still news. There is a bit of hard news, based on hard facts, as well.

We are talking here of electronic voting machines (EVMs), India has been using now for quite some time, as it did in the country's 2009 General Election. But this time it left a stink behind.

Prior to the announcement of the results, right after the country had voted in their choice candidates, both the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party), walked on a shaky ground, as both had no idea who will win. Congress was looking for allies and the BJP leadership called on the President, Mrs Pratibha Patil, to know if she will permit a BJP Government at the Centre.

Meanwhile, those who had voted through the EVMs were running from pillar to post, as their voting machine did not beep.

When a voter casts vote, the voter's machine must beep, so should the Presiding Officer's. So there should be two beeps to register a legitimate vote. But this did not happen this time. And the BJP polling agents supported the presiding officers by falsely saying that the voters' machine had beeped.

When in fact only the presiding officers' did. In plain words it meant that the officer has registered a vote – not necessarily the voter's choice.

From the presiding officers machines which party got the votes, is everybody's guess.

The BJP's polling agents this time were, unlike their past attitude, less strident and aggressive. When any voter said his machine has not beeped, they would reassure him that they did hear the beep. But did not add that it was presiding officer's machine that beeped.

We all know that Congress won with a thumping majority. But the BJP workers' attitude is curious. Was it a revolt against Mr L,K. Advani's leadership ? Or did the Congress party paid well. “When the party can pay millions of rupees,” say the detractors, “to survive no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, it can also pay to survive the electoral debacle as well.”

But the needle of suspicion first stops at the BJP's door, as they were the first to demonstrate after the elections how could it have happened. Or how did it happen ?

Meanwhile, the Congress is sitting cosily at the seat of power at the Centre and the Election Commission, an independent body for conducing the country's elections and checking any malpractice, is reportedly examining the machines to find the lacuna.

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