EVM Full Form

In earlier times, the election process was completely manual, i.e., there used to be ballot boxes in which voters dropped their chits of their chosen leaders marked, and election officers used to count them all manually. This was extremely tedious and long and used to generate errors and mistrust at times. Hence, with the evolution of technology, Electronic Voting Machines, in short, called EVMs, were invented.

The Electronic Voting Machine ( called ‘EVM’ in short) is an electronic device that helps cast and count votes during an election.

History of Electronic Voting Machine

• The idea of EVM was patented in 1898 by Gillespie and inventor Jacob Myers after the successful demonstration of the first EVM in 1892 by Myers 
• In India, the first EVM was invented by Haneefa under the supervision of Mr Rangarajan (aka) Writer Sujatha Rangarajan during his tenure in Bharat Electronics Limited around 1980, and their original designs were also exhibited to the public in almost six cities
• The EVM was officially incorporated by the Election Commission of India in 1989, in collaboration with Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited. However, they were first used in 1982 in the by-election in North Paravur Assembly Constituency of Kerala in a few polling stations 
• In December 1988, a new Section 61A was inserted in the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which officialised the use of EVMs in India during elections

Structure of the Electronic Voting Machine

• The EVM consists of 2 units – a control unit and a balloting unit. The balloting unit consists of a 5-meter cable and combines both units – the control and balloting units
• The balloting unit is placed in the voting compartment where voters cast their vote, i.e., their choice of a candidate in the presence of the Polling officer-in-charge
• The control unit is managed by the Presiding Officer or Polling Officer, who releases a ballot onto the balloting unit from the control unit
• EVM runs on an ordinary 7.5-volt alkaline Powerpack (manufactured using 5 AA-size cells of 1.5 volts each) 
• Each Control Unit and Balloting Unit has a unique ID Number, which is engraved on each of the units
• Currently, in India, there are three existing models of EVMs – 1989-90 model EVM- costing Rs. 5,500/- per unit, 2000-05 model EVM- costing Rs.8,670/- per unit, Two thousand six onward model EVM-  costing Rs. 8,670/- per unit
• After and before the counting of votes, all the EVMs are stored in a room called the strong room, in the presence of the candidates/their agents and the Commission’s Observer
• The program of the EVM is burnt in a one-time programmable/masked chip, which cannot be read, making it unable to be reprogrammed by anyone

The Digital Aspects of an EVM

• In every EVM, there’s a maximum limit of votes that can be cast at a time – Old version EVMs (2000-05 model): 3840 votes;  New version EVMs (2006 onwards model): 2000 votes
• Also, in every EVM, there’s a maximum number of candidates (including NOTA) that a voter can cater to – Old version EVMs (2000-05 model): 64; New version EVMs (2006 onwards model): 384
• The memory of a Control Unit, i.e., the time up to which it can store the result, is ten years
• The EVMs can record only five votes in a minute, i.e., the rate of casting votes by voters is 5 per minute

The Polling Process with EVM 

The steps followed during the election process with the help of an EVM are as follows-

• The voter is identified from the respective voters’ list, and his/her presence is recorded by a signature or thumb impression
• The Presiding Officer presses the Ballot button present on the Control Unit, permitting one vote, i.e., he or she releases a ballot for the balloting unit for the voter to cast a vote
• Now, the balloting unit gets unlocked for the voter, and he/she presses the key against the candidate of his choice in the polling cubicle
• After he/she casts his vote, a red lamp appears on the ballot unit along with a beep in the Control Unit as an indication to the Presiding Officer

Advantages of EVM

• Prevention of Electoral Fraud: With the provision of the “End poll” button on the control unit of EVM, and also with a limit of 5 votes per minute on an EVM, it decreases the probability of booth capturing and false ballots
• Since the printing of millions of ballot papers is prevented, it reduces the cost of paper, printing, transportation, storage, and distribution
• The counting process is very quick, allowing the result to be declared within 2 to 3 hours as compared to 30-40 hours, with the ballot box system

Disadvantages of EVM

• There have been multiple suspicions about the vulnerability of EVMs towards hacking, questioning their reliability of genuine votes
• EVMs are often problematic for physically challenged people due to the improper recognition by the touch screens of EVMs
• The EVMs have to undergo extremely careful manufacturing and constant monitoring 

Conclusion

Hence, we see that EVMs are now an integral part of the Indian Electoral system and have become an absolute necessity for such a highly populated country. However, although it offers many advantages, there are still a few vulnerabilities of the EVMs and thus have to be improvised for greater reliability.