EVMs and/or Ballots: Binary Dead-Ends?
EVMs and/or Ballots: Binary Dead-Ends?
EVMs and/or Ballots: Binary Dead-Ends?
Posted on 22nd April, 2025 (GMT 15:30 hrs)
Composed and Compiled by Partyless Society⤡ & Occupy Dalal Street⤡
ABSTRACT
The article critiques the polarized debate in India surrounding electronic voting machines (EVMs) versus paper ballots. It contends that framing the issue as a binary choice oversimplifies the complexities of electoral integrity. The authors highlight that both EVMs and paper ballots possess their unique vulnerabilities, urging the need for robust, transparent, and verifiable bottom-up electoral processes rather than a fixation on the medium of voting. The piece advocates for a more nuanced discussion that transcends partisan positions to confront the genuine challenges of ensuring free and fair elections in a more decentralized, participatory, and partyless manner.
I. The Backdrop
The 2025 February Delhi Assembly election results, viz., the latest state-level election held with-in India, which saw the BJP securing power in the state, have shaken many people’s confidence in the Opposition’s purported “strength” following the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Questions are increasingly being raised about the lack of coordination among the I.N.D.I.A. coalition members, the absence of a common minimum program, and other critical factors that could undermine their ability to maintain a firm foothold both at the state and national levels.
A number of additional factors have also come to the fore—most notably, the BJP-RSS’s undeniably extensive groundwork in campaigning (howsoever communally oriented or based on sending out freebies) through both offline and online channels. These efforts have been bolstered by persistent allegations concerning their partisan and manipulative influence over the Election Commission of India (ECI), along with suspicions of potential tampering with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Together, these issues have significantly shaped the electoral outcome in Delhi, particularly when combined with the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) apparent decline in influence—attributed largely to corruption charges and its failure to address pressing public concerns in the region.
From a broader vantage point, when it comes to the contentious issue of electoral manipulation, the debate is often reduced to a binary: if not EVMs, then ballots? Or more generally, EVM versus ballot paper. In this brief article, we will explore the possibility of a “third option” that transcends this binary, while also evaluating whether one of the two existing systems is demonstrably superior to the other, especially in the context of targeted and baseless deletions of voters (allegedly belonging to the minority religious community) along with other subtle as well as crude forms of influencing electoral outcomes.
To begin with, let us examine the claims regarding the manipulation of EVMs in Indian politics over the past decade.
II. EVMs?
The 2024 Indian parliamentary elections witnessed significant discrepancies between votes polled and votes counted, as reported by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Vote for Democracy (VFD), The Quint, and journalist Poonam Agarwal.
ADR identified vote count mismatches in 538 constituencies, totaling 5,89,691 votes. In 362 seats, 5,54,598 votes were missing, while 176 seats saw an excess of 35,093 votes. Such inconsistencies demand urgent scrutiny. Notably, in 2019, discrepancies were found in 347 seats, with a total mismatch of 7,39,104 votes, including cases where the difference exceeded the margin of victory.
ADR’s Report on Discrepancies Between Votes Casted and Votes Counted VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 29th July, 2024 ©ADR)
Lok Sabha election: Report flags disparity between number of votes cast and votes counted VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 30th July, 2024 ©Scroll)
Vote For Democracy (VFD) highlighted a 5 crore vote surge across different election phases, particularly benefiting the BJP/NDA in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka. The report claimed this discrepancy helped the ruling party secure 76 additional seats, ensuring its majority. Concerns were raised over the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) failure to explain this increase or justify an 11-day delay in releasing final voter turnout data.
FINAL-VFD-Report-July-30-2024 DOWNLOAD
Election Commission Must Respond to Doubts Raised Over Lok Sabha Polls by VFD Report VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 28th July, 2024 ©The Wire)
Agarwal reported discrepancies in 140+ constituencies where more EVM votes were counted than polled. The EC has yet to offer a satisfactory explanation. The Quint reported similar mismatches in 370+ seats, dating back to April 2024.
In 140+ LS Seats, More EVM Votes Were Counted Than EVM Votes Polled. What’s Going On? VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 10th June, 2024 ©The Wire)
The EC dismissed these reports as a “false campaign” but failed to adequately justify the data inconsistencies. The ruling BJP/NDA government’s legitimacy is in question due to these allegations of EVM manipulation and EC influence.
False campaign being run to discredit LS polls, says EC on turnout figure claims VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 4th August, 2024 ©The Hindu)
This is the reason why Justice A. M. Singhvi said that the present regime is an “illegal government” at best:
https://youtu.be/yR_7Z5rA3z82F04%2F22%2Fevms-and-or-ballots-binary-dead-ends%2F
Even after the 2019 Lok Sabha Election, such allegations came into force:
Was the 2019 Lok Sabha Election Really Manipulated? VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 13th August, 2023 ©The Wire)
EVM Vote Count Mismatch In 370+ Seats and EC Refuses to Explain VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reposted on 2nd April, 2024 ©The Quint)
Hence, it appears that EVMs are more tamper-prone than tamper-proof, making them susceptible to various forms of manipulation. Therefore, they cannot be considered a foolproof system.
So, what is the alternative?
III. Ballots?
Ballot boxes do not appear to be a viable option either. Why? Numerous instances of significant monetary influence and muscle power to manipulate ballot boxes (including their mysterious disappearances!) demonstrate that they are far from being the traditional alternative to EVMs.
‘Counting’ on polling day and ‘polling’ on counting day in West Bengal VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 17th May, 2018 ©The Hindustan Times)
Over 16 dead in Bengal panchayat polls violence, ballot boxes set on fire or stolen; Bengal SEC says will look into demands for re-poll: Key developments VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 8th July, 2023 ©TOI)
West Bengal panchayat polls: Repoll in 697 booths VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 10th July, 2023 ©The New Indian)
Chewing ballot papers, jumping into pond: Drama on counting day of Bengal panchayat polls VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 11th July, 2023 ©India Today)
From “Eating” Votes To Ballot Box Relay Race: Bizarre Bengal Polls Scenes VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 12th July, 2023 ©NDTV)
নিখোঁজ ব্যালট বাক্স মিলল পুকুরে (Missing Ballot Boxes Found in Pond) VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 31st July, 2023 ©Anandabazar)
IV. The Way Out, The Way Forward?
It is not a game of “versus” or binary choices like EVM and ballot polling; rather, it is a contest of muscle and financial power.
Hence, one must think beyond the conventional and contentious frameworks of representative/parliamentary democracy as currently practiced in India. An alternative approach involves decentralizing elections and advocating for direct public participation in the decision-making process (as emphasized by Chomsky), particularly through mechanisms such as referendums and the right to recall representatives if they fail to meet the people’s expectations. This could be achieved via an organized federation of small-scale voting units or participatory associations, functioning as part of various “local republics,” as envisioned in different ways by thinkers like Owen, Tagore, Gandhi, Rudolf Rocker, M. N. Roy, Rajni Kothari, Vinoba Bhave, Pannalal Dasgupta, and J. P. Narayan. This connects to the objective of a partyless democracy, which seeks not a macro-scale, eliminative “one nation, one election” agenda (as the BJP wants to achieve!), but rather the implementation of checks and balances through a coordinated network of micro-level democracies. Its implementation would depend on the scale and scope of such administrative formations.
This is a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach that resists the concentration of power while preserving the core value of asserting the vote of no confidence in any and every people’s representative, as reflected in the emergence of the “None of the Above” (NOTA) option in Indian elections. When NOTA achieves two-thirds or a simple majority, it can function as a pressure group to keep the “rulers”—or rather delegates—under constant scrutiny. In this way, grassroots democratic operations could be reinforced instead of merely oscillating between the twin options of EVMs or ballots. Both mechanisms are susceptible to being hacked or tampered with solely because power is not distributed across various levels of the public sphere, but instead remains concentrated in the hands of a few autocratic leaders, who can be affiliated with any political party, given that such parties operate more like limited companies motivated not by ideological standpoints, but by an overwhelming pursuit of power and property.
এক না-রাষ্ট্রের দিবাস্বপ্ন (Reveries of the No-State) VIEW HERE ⤡
This observation highlights a foundational concept found within the Kibbutz communities in Israel, the Mir Communes of Russia, Owen’s New Harmony, Tagore’s Sriniketan project, Gandhian eco-swaraj, and the lifestyles of indigenous communities such as the Sentinelese islanders.
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