The endless carping against Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) has become more of a political refrain. Although the Gujarat polls were held with Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) machines at every booth, budding politicians like Hardik Patel were freely blaming EVMs. This kind of unexplained conspiracy theory does little to challenge the electronic system through which India has voted in elections for nearly two decades. When the EC invited political parties to a hackathon this year, not one turned up. Had they participated, they would have lost their major talking point.
The Gujarat poll seemed to follow every path surmised upon, down to regions and sub-regions, indicating EVMs have done reasonably well. The Supreme Court turned down a Gujarat Congress plea seeking counting of at least 20 per cent of VVPATs, saying any debate on poll reforms could take place after the election process ends. A fair introspection of the issue and suggestions on the way forward in which the paper trail can help verify the working of EVMs to refine the system further may prove more helpful than constant criticism.
