EVM is secure, say experts, bin criticism

The electronic voting machines (EVMs), which will be used in 150 constituencies in the upcoming national polls as per the Election Commission's (EC) roadmap, are safe and cannot be tampered with for vote rigging, say some experts allaying fears of manipulating the device.  

"Vote stuffing is not possible in EVM as the machine will not function without the presiding officer's specific card. Besides, voting panel will not open without valid voter's finger print," Muhammad Mahfuzul Islam, member of the EVM innovation committee said at a roundtable discussion organised by the Editors Guild in the capital yesterday.

"It is also not possible to vote before or after the specified time. There is no scope for tampering as there is no connection in the machine," he said, adding, "It cannot be hacked or programmed."

Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, professor of (Computer Science & Engineering) Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, said, "EC opened the machine and showed us in detail. I think it is not possible to manipulate. There is no external connection option in the device."

The eminent writer lauded the local scientists who developed the device.

On the criticism that recounting cannot be done in EVM, he asked, "What is the need of recounting?"

"If there is any controversy, there is a digital log of voting in the EVM machine, which can be reviewed," he added.

Professor Zafar Iqbal, however, raised the concern if the government will buy the machine in the current economic state.

Former election commissioner Brigadier General Shahadat Hossain said, Trust in EVMs is a psychological matter. Gaining trust in EC eliminates this problem.

"If you have doubts, you can randomly check 50 machines," he said.

"The earlier EVMs used were discontinued in 2010. The new generation EVM machines are different from the old ones. Voting has been made easier in the new EVMs," he added.

Political scientist and observer Professor Harun or Rashid said, "Our main problem is political parties, not EVMs. It is the political parties that are responsible for the fact that people have no confidence in votes."

"Some parties, including the BNP, have no faith in the EC or government. They abstained from going to the polls. Because of these activities, people are suffering from lack of confidence in voting," he said, adding, "Everything has pros and cons. We are moving towards technology so we must adopt improved technologies."

Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori and a social activist, said, "The key is participatory elections. People have less idea about EVM. You say it is a stand-alone machine but people do not know about it. It is the responsibility of the Political parties and the EC to develop confidence among people."

However, some speakers expressed their reservations regarding the use of EVM.

Former election commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain said, "In many cases it takes a long time to match the fingers of elderly people in EVMs and sometimes the prints do not match. This happened in the case of previous CEC Nurul Huda."

He also said, "If people have no confidence in it, no matter how good the election is, it will be questioned all over the world."

Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Sujan) coordinator Dilip Kumar Sarker said, "There is an opportunity for the presiding officer to overwrite 1% vote if voters' finger prints do not match. But I heard this authority is extended up to 25%."

He also said, "How can we know from outside whether it is 1% or 50%? This one issue can turn the outcome of an entire election. Besides, there is also controversy about the cards used in the results."

Further the existing EVM machine has no voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) system, so voting through this machine will raise questions, he added.

Professor Abdul Jabbar Khan, pro-vice-chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said, "There is a slow-voting issue through EVM. In many cases, human fingerprints do not match. Besides, there is a lack of awareness and involvement of people about EVM."

Election observer Monira Khatun said, "The machine does not operate alone. There are some people behind it. Besides, not all political parties are convinced of EVMs. The Election Commission wants to use EVM in 150 seats. If they want to ensure maximum voting rights of the people, the people of the remaining 150 constituencies would be deprived of that. Not everyone is getting equal opportunity."

Monira Khatun also said, "The Election Commission has released the names of political parties in favour of EVMs. The next day statements came from political parties that they did not speak for it. This is a controversy, a crisis of confidence."

Besides the question from people that how reasonable it is to spend crores to buy this machine in the current state of economy remains, she added.