Commentary: The extraordinary logistics of India’s general election

Electronic voting machine

A major innovation in Indian elections was the deployment of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Although EVMs went through several testing phases, the 2004 general elections and subsequent elections were conducted exclusively using such machines.

Before the introduction of this system, the voting process was often marred by incidents where criminals would occupy some polling stations, forcibly stamp the ballot papers in support of their preferred candidates, and then flee before the police arrived.

While a few such incidents, known as “poll-snatching,” may not change people’s judgment, repeated occurrences undermine the electoral process. Poll-snatching has been greatly reduced by the advent of rugged, battery-powered electronic voting machines that can record up to four votes per minute.

In addition, many polling stations have introduced video surveillance and live streaming of the voting process to prevent violence and increase transparency.

Concerns about digital manipulation

There were concerns that the EVMs could be digitally tampered with. To allay such fears, the ECI organised a hackathon challenging opponents to prove that the EVMs could be manipulated, but there was no evidence that the system was vulnerable.

To increase trust in electronic voting machines, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were introduced to allow voters to see a printout of their ballot papers. The printouts from the VVPAT machines are randomly counted to ensure that they match the ballot papers in the electronic voting machines.

Each polling station will conduct a simulation test of the electronic voting machine and voter registration machine, and the formal election process will only be started after the agents of the various political parties are satisfied with the operation of the machines.

Despite stringent security measures, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India expressing concerns that the electronic voting machines could be manipulated. After due scrutiny, the Supreme Court declared that “electronic voting machines are simple, secure and user-friendly”, adding that “the inclusion of the VVPAT system strengthens the principle of verifiability of votes”.