Supreme Court asks EC on audit of voting machine software

The last word on the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) is yet to be out as the Supreme Court on Friday sought the Election Commission’s view on a petition demanding an audit of the source code, which is considered the brain of the EVMs. The matter will be heard on March 1.

The petition filed by one Sunil Ahya, who appeared in person, was heard by a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna.

So far, only the hardware of the machines is checked but the source code, which forms the software of the electronic voting machines has never come under the ambit of the audit.

The petition demanded that a public independent body, other than the manufacturers of the machine, must examine the software and ensure that a hash function (a technical term which means a lock to the software) is maintained for each machine’s source code. By doing so, Ahya claimed that if the software of the machine has been tampered with, the hash function will change automatically providing proof that the machine has been tampered with.

The petition raised a vital question of law about the out purity of elections being an integral part of a democratic system. According to him, the introduction of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) cannot assure the credibility of votes as VVPAT are merely output devices for voters to satisfy. “A concerted subversion of source codes of EVM, VVPAT and EVM Transmission System may yet subvert the election results,” the petition added.