Ex-CEC defends EVMs, calls for confidence building measures

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi reiterated his support for Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) but called for engaging in confidence building exercises including initiating measures for fresh electoral reforms.

The former EC head insisted that going back to paper ballots would make the voting process vulnerable to booth capturing. He pointed out that as CEC, he had called an all-party meet in 2010 and the main grouse that came out of it was that the process was not transparent.

"So, they had concluded that a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was the answer, meaning your choice would be visible to you at the time of the casting of the ballot," Quraishi said adding that he was open to the idea that instead of counting votes and then tallying them with VVPATs, the latter should be counted. This has been a longstanding demand of activists such as MG Devasahayam, the author of ‘Electoral Democracy? An inquiry into the fairness and integrity of elections in India.’

“That (counting VVPATs directly) needs to be considered. In fact, I don’t rule it out totally. Even if you have to count 100 percent VVPAT for the credibility of the election, why not? Otherwise the demand is back to the ballot paper. It (counting VVPATs) will take a few more hours. Even if it takes one extra day, so what? Credibility is most important,” Quraishi said.

However, he insisted that EVMs were a good idea. “I personally have been a defender of EVMs and they have been improved over time. The VVPAT was an improvement on it. Now the debate is how many EVMs must be counted with the chits generated. That should be discussed. The Election Commission should call an all-party meeting," he said.