We are a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services who have worked for decades with the Central and State Governments during our careers. We wish to make it clear that, as a group, we have no affiliation with any political party but believe in impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Constitution of India. With our collective experience of conducting and supervising elections from the local body to the parliamentary level, we wish to suggest what needs to be done to make the actual process of voting and counting as free as possible from suspicions of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunction and manipulation.
It is common knowledge that EVMs are ‘black boxes’ in which it is impossible for voters to verify whether their votes have been recorded and counted correctly, and in which miscounts due to EVM malfunction or manipulation are undetectable and unchallengeable. Hence, there is an imperative need for an additional verifiable physical record of every vote cast, in the form of ‘voter verified paper audit trail’ (VVPAT). It allows for a partial or total recount independent of the EVM’s electronic count and helps detect counting mistakes and frauds that would otherwise go undetected. In 2013, the Supreme Court passed an order mandating the use of EVMs with VVPAT units, and the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been deploying VVPAT units in Assembly Elections from 2017 onwards.
If VVPAT is to have any real security or accuracy value, it should form the basis of a proper audit plan. This entails tallying the electronic count as per the EVMs with the manual count as per the VVPAT slips for a ‘statistically significant’ sample size of EVMs chosen at random from a suitably defined ‘population’ of EVMs. Equally important is a clear ‘decision rule’ about what should be done in the event of a ‘defective EVM’ turning up in the sample. A ‘defective EVM’ is one in which the EVM count does not tally with the VVPAT count due to either EVM malfunction or manipulation. But the audit plan that the ECI has followed in recent elections suffers from the following serious shortcomings:
First, the ECI has prescribed a statistically incorrect sample size of just “one polling station (i.e. 1 EVM) per Assembly Constituency” uniformly for all Assembly Constituencies and all States. It has not taken into account the fact that the number of EVMs in an Assembly Constituency varies widely across States from about 20 to about 300, and in a State from 589 (for Sikkim) to 23,672 (for Chhattisgarh which is the median State) to nearly 1,50,000 (for Uttar Pradesh). We are of the view that a uniform sample size for widely varying finite population sizes does not conform to fundamental principles of statistical sampling theory.
Second, the ECI has not made public as to how it arrived at its sample size nor has it specified the population to which this sample size relates. The latter is important because the sample size is dependent upon how the population is defined. If we assume that one percent of the EVMs are defective, the probability that the ECI’s present sample size will fail to detect at least one defective EVM is 99 per cent if ‘EVMs deployed in an Assembly Constituency’ are defined as the population; 94 per cent if ‘EVMs deployed in a Parliamentary Constituency’ are defined as the population; and varies from about 2 per cent (U.P) to 40 per cent (Chhattisgarh) to 71 per cent (Sikkim) if ‘EVMs deployed in a State as a whole’ are defined as the population. Such high margins of error are unacceptable in a democracy.
Third, the ECI has been vague about its ‘decision rule’ in the event of one or more defective EVMs turning up in the chosen sample.
Fourth, the ECI has not been transparent about the results of its VVPAT-based audit of EVMs for the various Assembly Elections held in 2017 and 2018 and the details are not available on its website.
In short, the ECI’s audit plan is unable to detect outcome-altering miscounts due to EVM malfunction or manipulation, which defeats the very purpose of introducing VVPATs. Spending hundreds of crores of rupees on procurement of VVPAT units makes little sense if their utilisation for audit purposes is reduced to an exercise in tokenism.
Our group has been engaged over the past nine months in discussions with the ECI on issues relating to the proper VVPAT-based audit of EVMs. In our letter dated 10th December 2018 to the Chief Election Commissioner, we had sought clarifications from the ECI about certain pointed queries regarding the sample size and the decision rules. We had requested that in the interest of ensuring public confidence and the cooperation of political parties, it would be in the fitness of things if the clear reasons for adoption of a particular sample size and the decision rule for counting of VVPAT paper ballots are placed in the public domain, including on the ECI website. But there has been no action on this front.
The lack of transparency in VVPAT-based audit of EVMs has fuelled various conspiracy theories about ‘mass rigging of EVMs’. There have been unacceptable demands for reversion to paper ballots. But the real issue today is not about “EVMs versus Paper Ballots”; rather it is about “EVMs with perfunctory VVPAT audit versus EVMs with proper VVPAT audit”.
Any electronic equipment is inherently subject to random malfunction. By its own admission, the ECI keeps about 20-25% of EVMs and VVPAT units in reserve to replace those which malfunction on the polling day within a few hours of the commencement of the poll. There is every likelihood that a certain percentage of EVMs may again malfunction randomly during the long interval of 15-30 days between the date of polling and the date of counting. Perhaps this explains the occasionally noticed random discrepancies between the polling station-wise figures of voter turnout and the votes as counted in EVMs. The argument that some Presiding Officers ‘forgot’ to initialise the EVM count to zero at the end of the mock poll demonstration before the regular polling commences does not explain why there are positive as well as negative discrepancies.
As regards EVM manipulation, we wish to state that though it is highly improbable, this low probability can increase significantly with insider collusion. While the ECI has put in place a security protocol and various administrative safeguards that look impressive on paper, vulnerabilities do exist. Large-scale rigging of EVMs may not be possible or necessary because potential attackers need to target only select EVMs to tip the balance in a few marginal, closely fought constituencies. What is worrisome is that without a credible VVPAT-based audit of EVMs, the fraud may be undetectable and may be carried on with impunity.
We, therefore, appeal to the ECI to go in for a statistically correct sample size that can detect at least one defective EVM with 99.9 per cent reliability, in a suitably defined population, by adopting the hypergeometric probability distribution model. In something as important as ensuring the integrity of the election process – a process which in any case takes about 2-3 months from the date of announcement to the date of counting – a delay of a few hours or even a day in the manual counting of VVPAT slips of a larger (statistically correct) sample size of EVMs should not matter at all.
We also appeal to the ECI to adopt the following ‘decision rules’. Full manual counting of VVPAT slips should be done (1) for all the remaining EVMs of the defined population if the sample throws up one or more defective EVMs, (2) for closely contested constituencies where the margin of victory is below 2 per cent of the votes cast or 1000 votes, whichever is less, even if no defective EVM turns up in the sample, and (3) for those polling stations where the discrepancy between the votes polled in EVMs and votes as counted in EVMs is more than 2 per cent.
We request the ECI to implement these suggestions in the Lok Sabha elections due in April-May 2019. Though the counting process may take a little longer, the confidence of the voters and political parties in the electoral process will be reinforced. The ECI has a long and honourable record of holding free and fair elections. It is in the spirit of supporting it in maintaining these high standards that we write this open letter.
| 1. | Salahuddin Ahmad | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Rajasthan |
| 2. | V.S. Ailawadi | IAS (Retd.) | Former Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority |
| 3. | S.P. Ambrose | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI |
| 4. | Y.P. Anand | IRSE (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Railway Board |
| 5. | Mohinderpal Aulakh | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police (Jails), Govt. of Punjab |
| 6. | N. Bala Baskar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser (Finance), Ministry of External Affairs, GoI |
| 7. | Gopalan Balagopal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| 8. | Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Coal, GoI |
| 9. | Madhu Bhaduri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Portugal |
| 10. | Meeran C Borwankar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI |
| 11. | Ravi Budhiraja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI |
| 12. | Sundar Burra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| 13. | R. Chandramohan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
| 14. | Kalyani Chaudhuri | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| 15. | Anna Dani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| 16. | Surjit K. Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttarakhand |
| 17. | Vibha Puri Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI |
| 18. | P.R. Dasgupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI |
| 19. | Pradeep K. Deb | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI |
| 20. | Keshav Desiraju | IAS (Retd.) | Former Health Secretary, GoI |
| 21. | Arif Ghauri | IRS (Retd.) | Former Governance Adviser, DFID, Govt. of the United Kingdom (on deputation) |
| 22. | Gourisankar Ghosh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water Mission, GoI |
| 23. | Tuktuk Ghosh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary and Financial Adviser, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping & Tourism, GoI |
| 24. | Meena Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI |
| 25. | Ravi Vira Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India |
| 26. | Wajahat Habibullah | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, GoI and Chief Information Commissioner |
| 27. | Deepa Hari | IRS (Resigned) | |
| 28. | Vivek Harinarain | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Tamil Nadu |
| 29. | Sajjad Hassan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Commissioner (Planning), Govt. of Manipur |
| 30. | Siraj Hussain | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI |
| 31. | Kamal Jaswal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI |
| 32. | Najeeb Jung | IAS (Retd.) | Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi |
| 33. | Rahul Khullar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India |
| 34. | Brijesh Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI |
| 35. | S.K. Lambah | IFS (Retd.) | Former Special Envoy to the Prime Minister of India |
| 36. | Harsh Mander | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| 37. | Lalit Mathur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI |
| 38. | Aditi Mehta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan |
| 39. | Shivshankar Menon | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser |
| 40. | Sonalini Mirchandani | IFS (Resigned) | GoI |
| 41. | Deb Mukharji | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal |
| 42. | Pranab S. Mukhopadhyay | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director, Institute of Port Management, GoI |
| 43. | Nagalswamy | IA&AS (Retd.) | Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & Kerala |
| 44. | Surendra Nath | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| 45. | Amitabha Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI |
| 46. | Niranjan Pant | IA&AS (Retd.) | Former Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General of India |
| 47. | Alok Perti | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI |
| 48. | Sharda Prasad | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General (Employment and Training), Ministry of Labour and Employment, GoI |
| 49. | T.R. Raghunandan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI |
| 50. | N.K. Raghupathy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI |
| 51. | J.P. Rai | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, National Skills Development Agency, GoI |
| 52. | V.P. Raja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission |
| 53. | C. Babu Rajeev | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, GoI |
| 54. | K. Rajivan | IAS (Resigned) | Former Director, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI |
| 55. | M.Y. Rao | IAS (Retd.) | |
| 56. | Nirupama Menon Rao | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary, GoI |
| 57. | Aruna Roy | IAS (Resigned) | |
| 58. | Deepak Sanan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| 59. | N.C. Saxena | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI |
| 60. | Ardhendu Sen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| 61. | Abhijit Sengupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI |
| 62. | Aftab Seth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Japan |
| 63. | Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia |
| 64. | Navrekha Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Indonesia |
| 65. | Raju Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh |
| 66. | K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty | IAS (Retd.) | Former Vice Chancellor, Indian Maritime University, GoI |
| 67. | Jawhar Sircar
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IAS (Retd.)
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Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI, & former CEO, Prasar Bharati |
| 68. | Narendra Sisodia | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI |
| 69. | Parveen Talha | IRS (Retd.) | Former Member, Union Public Service Commission |
| 70. | Thanksy Thekkekera | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Minorities Development, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| 71. | P.S.S. Thomas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission |
| 72. | Geetha Thoopal | IRAS (Retd.) | Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata |
| 73. | Ramani Venkatesan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra |
Constitutional Conduct Group 