This workshop was attended by ECI’s expert committee chairman PV Indiresan and Election Commissioner Dr Alok Shukla. Along with these ECI’s representatives, I had also participated in a panel discussion with these ECI representatives. ECI’s arguments were completely trashed by an independent team of security researchers. The audio of the panel discussion can be heard at this link: http://josephhall.org/misc/indian-evm-panel-evtwote.mp3
With its desperate actions, the ECI and the government stand totally exposed and are betraying nervous signs. While earlier the they seemed only guilty of being ignorant about the vulnerabilities of EVMs, the latest actions raise question marks about their integrity and intent.
In the ongoing battle for reform the ballot (voting) system, fast paced developments are expected in the coming weeks. As the union government has openly declared that they have unleashed the entire might of the government to harass all EVM critics, I am reminded of the Mahatma Gandhi’s saying, “First they know you, then they discredit you, then they bite you and YOU WIN”
The unabashed discrediting attempts and biting have begun in full speed. This is an indication that we are going to win our struggle for transparency and accountability.
This is a fight that India must win. We cannot afford to lose our independence to a few crooks who are out to destroy the fabric of our democracy. Here is an open call to take this forward, not knowing how the might of the government might be unleashed against people like us and particularly for providing intellectual leadership to the issue by writing a book titled “Democracy at Risk! Can we trust our electronic voting machines (EVMs)?”
Indian democracy is not just at risk. It is imperiled. It is the duty of every patriotic Indian to rise to the occasion and save our hard earned democracy.
(The writer is President, VeTA, Citizens for Verifiability, Transparency & Accountability in Elections.)
