Electronic Voting Machines Tamper-Proof, Says Chief Election Commissioner

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora today said electronic voting machines are tamper-proof and an expert committee is looking after their functioning.

There is absolutely nothing to doubt about the integrity of the system, the CEC said, while addressing a gathering at the inauguration of the new academic session of the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh.

"Since there are a galaxy of technocrats sitting here, I must inform you that the entire functioning of EVMs (electronic voting machines) is being looked after by a highly-qualified technical committee," Mr Arora said.

The members of the committee are not the kind who can be approached, influenced, coaxed by anybody, he added.

"Every citizen of India should know that this is not a machine that can be tampered. There is difference between tampering and malfunctioning. Any machine can malfunction. You purchase a new car, it can malfunction within a week...," he said.

Without taking names, the CEC said people keep raising issues about EVMs. "These days there is lot of talk about EVMs. I am not a person who normally gives many interviews, but recently I had to give one or two and I said that there were elections in May 2014 in India and you had 'X' result, then there were elections to Delhi assembly, you had 'Y' result."

"Now, recently we had elections in five states, we had different results, in between there were by-polls, you had different results. Can it be that when there is a 'X' result, EVM is faulty and when there is a 'Y' result, EVM is kind of malfunctioning?," Mr Arora asked.

The Election Commission holds the world's largest election, he said, adding, "In all humility, we see ourselves as the conscience keeper of the democratic process of the nation".

"It goes to the credit of the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution to make universal adult franchise the basis of elections. They also realised the value of an autonomous Election Commission."

On the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the CEC said: "We will try our level best and I am sure (we will) succeed to have a credible, fair, impartial and ethical election."