Supreme Court Questions EVM Integrity Amidst Suspicions of Hacking

Justices Seek Clarity on Electronic Voting Machines’ (EVM) Vulnerability and Feasibility of Directives

The Supreme Court, during Wednesday’s session, deliberated on whether it could issue directives concerning Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) solely based on suspicions of hacking and manipulation without substantial evidence.

A Bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta was addressing petitions advocating for the matching of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with votes registered via EVMs during elections. These petitions also raised concerns regarding the integrity of EVMs against hacking.

The Court sought clarification from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the matter. The ECI affirmed that the flash memory of the Microcontrollers in EVMs is not programmable, dismissing the possibility of reprogramming.

The Court questioned whether it could issue directives based solely on suspicion, highlighting that previous judgments had recommended the use of VVPAT but did not mandate the matching of all slips, instead specifying a 5 percent verification. The Court expressed willingness to consider reinforcing the EVM system but ruled out reverting to ballot papers as a viable option.

Various petitioners urged for comprehensive tallying of EVM votes with VVPAT slips to ensure transparency and accuracy in the electoral process.

During the hearing, the Court sought clarification from the ECI regarding the installation and programmability of microcontrollers in EVMs, as well as the availability of symbol loading units.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan argued that the flash memory of Micro Control Units could be reprogrammed, contrary to the ECI’s assertion. However, the ECI reiterated that reprogramming was not feasible, emphasizing the limited functionality of flash memory to store symbols, not software.

The Court reserved its judgment after deliberating on these arguments and explanations. The issue of tallying VVPAT slips with EVMs has long been contentious, with past cases urging for increased verification percentages.

In a previous instance, the apex court had increased the number of randomly selected EVMs for VVPAT verification from 1 to 5 per assembly segment before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, a plea requesting VVPAT verification for all EVMs was dismissed by the Court in May 2019.