Blaming the electronic voting machines (EVM) after losing
the elections has become a regular practice of the political parties in India,
which is not a good sign for democracy. It simply proves that the Indian
political parties have not yet learned to respect peoples’ mandate. This is why
after being routed in the 2014 general elections in which her party has failed
to gain a single seat despite increase in overall vote share, Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP) chief Mayawati alleged hacking of EVMs. Before Mayawati, present
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee used to allege the same whenever her
party failed to do well at the hustings against the then mighty Left block. If
we go back further, we will find that even the BJP leadership was sceptical
over the introduction of EVMs in the electoral process, when the Congress, the
party in power, had supported it strongly. Ironically, it is now the Congress
is lodging vociferous protests against EVMs, especially after the drubbing the
party has suffered in the recent Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Along with a couple of other parties that have also joined the chorus, the
party is now demanding return of ballot paper, a system which the country
followed till mid-nineties, simply forgetting the fact that the earlier system
was discarded not only to take advantage of the advancement of science, but
also to make the electoral process free and fair.
It must be admitted here that the present poll process in
the country has become smoother after the introduction of EVMs. The most
visible change has taken place in the counting process which now takes only a
couple of hours to declare the winners, instead of days which used to be normal
during the ballot paper days. At the same time, introduction of EVMs has also
reduced the chances of booth capturing as in the new system no one can cast a
vote without the consent of the presiding officer. In all, the present voting
system appears to be better one than the previous system. Yet, if some
political parties are still doubtful about the integrity of EVMs, they must be
reminded that the voting machines haven’t favoured the ruling party always. The
last general election is the most glaring example of the fact as it has brought
down the ruling party’s tally well below the majority mark. West Bengal is
another example where BJP has not been able to capture power in the State even
after desperate efforts on at least two occasions. So, the argument that EVM
only favours the ruling party does not stand after close scrutiny of the poll
outcomes since the introduction of it.
It doesn’t mean that the present electoral process needs no
further measures to prove fairness of the machines. A provision can be made to
tally the votes in the machine with VVPAT, if any candidate is not satisfied
with the poll outcome. The process may be similar to counting ballot papers and
may delay the declaration of final results, but it may be useful to silence the
critics of EVMs once and for all.
