January 13, 2024
Lawyers in a live demonstration at Jantar Mantar, under the banner of EVM Hatao Sanyukt Morcha on January 6, showed how an EVM machine can be hacked.
Pawan Kumar Sharma asked a voter to cast his vote to a candidate with Banana symbol but after he voted, the VVPAT showed that the vote was transferred to Apple.
After the demonstration, Pawan Sharma said, “Till 2011 there was no VVPAT in India, we had only EVM. When it was proved earlier that there can be foul play with EVM then the Supreme Court had directed the Election Commission that in EVM there can be mishandling and had asked to make it more verifiable. Thereafter, VVPAT was introduced by the Election Commission in 2012. The glass of VVPAT used to be white in 2012 butlaterthe Election Commission turned the white glass which was transparent into black. Earlier there used to be light in the VVPAT for 15 seconds which has now been reduced to seven seconds.”
He also demonstrated the theft of paper in the VVPAT. The general trend is that a candidate after voting and having seen the paper slip goes away. The three symbols of Apple, Banana and Watermelon were displayed on EVM machine. Two voters were called and asked to vote for Banana. After voting both of them saw in the VVPAT machine the slip of Banana. But afterwards, the display slip in the VVPAT showed Apple and Banana against the votes of Banana.
“I have programmed the VVPAT in such a manner that Apple will win. The theft was not possible for the vote to Apple. The vote cast for Watermelon also displayed Watermelon in the VVPAT. Two votes were cast to Watermelon but against the displayed symbols, the VVPAT showed one Apple and one Watermelon;it means the Apple took away one vote of Watermelon because of the programming. Together five votes were polled. One vote to Apple and two other votes to Banana and Watermelon each, but finally Apple managed to get three votes and won. Banana and Watermelon lost despite getting two votes each but Apple won despite receivingvote cast by one candidate,” he said.
‘But when the black glass was replaced with white glass, theft of vote became impossible. But with the black glass and by switching off light, theft of votes was possible. If five people voted for Banana consecutively then Apple will win by four votes.This is the game of theft of votes and this theft is not possible to see because of that black glass. If the glass is white and the light remains turned on then there will be no theft of votes, he added.
Senior Advocate Mehmood Paracha told the gathering that during 2014-15 the glass of the VVPAT was changed. Today we have shown you how votes can be stolen; there are many more ways of doing it. We demand that Election be conducted through paper ballot only. We will not allow this fraud to happen. A case will be filed against the Election Commission that helped manipulate the glass of VVPAT.
Earlier at Patiala House Courtson January 5, a delegation comprising lawyers sought to convey a message to the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commission members that there cannot be fair elections with EVM and demanded a return to paper ballots.
Later on, prominent Supreme Court advocates Mahmood Pracha and Bhanu Pratap were detained by the police on Friday evening during a rally protesting the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The peaceful march, organized by Pracha, National Convener of ‘Mission Save Constitution,’ quickly escalated as police forces intervened, leading to the detention of the advocates and fellow protestors.