Electronic Voting Machines by Subramanian Swamy

ABOUT THE BOOK

Are Indian Elections Free and Fair in the Age of EVMs? This book makes a host of startling and alarming revelations on the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Indian elections.

• The continued use of electronic voting machines in Indian elections is unconstitutional because Indian EVMs are non-transparent and vitiate the requirement of voter control over the balloting and counting process, which is a basic feature of Indias Constitution.
• EVMs are tamperable, posing the risk of wholesale rigging of election results. Computer experts have consistently held that Indian EVMs are not completely secure from software and hardware manipulation. Also, Indian EVMs can be hacked both before and after elections to alter election results.
• Universal use of EVMs in Indian elections may also be illegal as per a judgement of the Supreme Court of India in 1984.

EVMs have already been banned in many countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and Italy, and the list is getting longer. Thus, there is a growing lack of confidence in EVMs the world over. Why should India persist with a failed system that has been abandoned worldwide? The risk of wholesale rigging inherent in EVMs, howsoever small, cannot be accepted in a democracy where the stakes in winning elections are so high.

The book brings together a panel of political, constitutional and technical experts and makes a powerful and substantive case for the discontinuation of EVMs in Indian elections if these cannot be safeguarded to public satisfaction. The book is an eye-opener and a must-read for all Indian politicians and citizens alike.