EC releases techincal SOPs to verify functioning of EVMs used in polls

EC on Tuesday released the technical standard operating procedure to be followed while checking and verifying the functioning of the EVMs used after election.

The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday released the technical standard operating procedure (T-SOP) to be followed while checking and verifying (C&V) the functioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used after the declaration of election results.

The process will allow candidates who get the second and the third highest votes in a parliamentary or assembly constituency to check and verify for themselves the firmware of the EVMs used in the polling was not tampered with. (Parwaz Khan /HT PHOTO)

The process will allow candidates who get the second and the third highest votes in a parliamentary or assembly constituency to check and verify for themselves the firmware of the EVMs used in the polling was not tampered with.

In compliance with the Supreme Court order dated April 26, the poll body had released the administrative SOP (A-SOP) on June 1. Applications for checking and verification (C&V) must be filed within seven days of the declaration of results.

In this process, the candidates, EC officials and the EVM manufacturers (state PSUs like BEL and ECIL) will essentially conduct a mock poll on the EVMs of the candidates’ choice. Components of the EVM --- the control unit (CU), the ballot unit (BU) and the VVPAT --- are selected and connected according to the candidates’ choice.

A maximum of 1,400 votes will be cast to check whether the EVM set being tested passed or failed. If the results of the mock poll on the CU do not match the number of VVPAT slips generated, the EVM set will be deemed to have failed the process. The failed EVM set will then be handed to the DEO to be sent to the manufacturers for further analysis.

According to the EC’s FAQs on EVMs, the latest model of the EVMs, M3, can record a maximum of 2,000 votes but is generally used to record only 1,500 votes. During the recent Lok Sabha 2024, the EC had said that the average number of electors (eligible voters) per polling station was 1,000.

Records of the C&V process, including copies of applications, daily registers, certification for EVM burnt memory/microcontroller C&V, and video records will be provided under RTI for up to one month after the completion of the C&V process and not thereafter.

As per the A-SOP, these records must be kept by the DEO for a period of three months after the completion of the C&V process. However, they will not be considered as “election papers” under sections 93 and 94 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.

If an EVM used in the C&V does not pass the test, “the unexplainable mismatch between the CU count and VVPAT slip count shall be reported by the manufacturer to the Commission with detailed analysis and evaluation”.

While manufacturing EVMs in the secured manufacturing environment, the firmware is ported in the EVM units and burn (one time programmed) in the microcontroller memories. Once burnt, the firmware cannot be modified at any stage thereafter. Therefore it is not possible to alter the firmware of the EVM unit to favour any particular candidate or to bias the result of an election in favour of any candidate at any point of time,” the EC’s public notice to all chief electoral officers, and the heads of BEL and ECIL said.

The C&V process can be held only after the period for filing an election petition, that is, 45 days after the date of declaration of result (after July 19 for general elections) has lapsed, depending on the nature of election petitions filed. If there are no petitions, ECIL and BEL must give the schedule for holding the C&V process within 10 days of confirmation of the no election petition status by the respective CEOs. If there are any petitions, the manufacturers must give the schedule within two weeks of the application obtaining a court order and submitting it to the DEO.

All EVMs (which include the CU, BU, VVPAT, and the symbol loading unit) are sealed and kept in a strong room for 45 days after the election results are declared.