Summary: Indian Elections are a spectacle – of a scale and intense slug
fest that evoke admiration, derision and now alarm. This note unpacks what is dangerously
wrong with the system at each level and what are the debates we need to have
and what are clearly the best practical fixes. In this note, the most urgent
and serious problems and how to address them are discussed. Interested readers
can click on relevant hyperlinks to deep dive into references and my notes. For
e.g. EVM system as used in the Indian
Election System deserves careful study because it is a critical element besides
other factors like manipulated Electoral Rolls and immunity granted to Election
Commissioners which, on the face of it, can upend the Indian Democracy. It is
also important to know the difference between Indian
Citizen, Indian Voter and Resident Indian. Those who are not subject
experts should first consult the abbreviations.
Indian Election System is far from what India deserves. It is beset with serious problems
at multiple levels – ironically all of these can be fixed – the biggest reason
why this has not happened is lack of public pressure. Some fixes require
constitutional amendments with 2/3rd majority, a few require
legislative amendments with a simple majority and others require only a
procedural change which could be mandated by ECI or forced by SCI. No one needs
to be told that subversion of Indian elections is a big stakes game,
consequential reforms will not happen automatically through institutions,
without public pressure nothing much will happen. The required changes can be
classified as Essential and Desirable – and further, by the time that will likely
be needed for debates followed by legislative or institutional actions and
actual implementation.
The Political Funding System and the FPTP, First-Past-The-Post
System which have got exacerbated due to rising cost of elections (world’s
biggest and costliest)
and proliferation
of political parties, have completely warped the representation of people’s
will and put in power parties which do not represent the views of the majority
and all manner of machinations are employed for making and unmaking coalitions.
Debating and fixing these two very serious problems are long-term projects and
they must not be sidelined. However, there
are other urgent problems related to the Voting
System which must be fixed ASAP. The priority should be to first save
Democracy and then to work on making it a responsive Democracy.
The processes of Electoral Roll preparation
and EVM’s
usage which constitute the Voting System have followed the law of
entropy and the disorder in the system continues unabated. ECI (Election
Commission of India), once a reputed independent institution is today seen as a
government agent. SCI has been generally dismissive of activists’ challenges
against ECI’s processes and conduct. Therefore, it is only public pressure that
can save India’s Democracy.
In its 75-year history, the Voting System
has evolved from Paper Ballots (1951-2004) → EVMs (trial
1982, law 1989, full use 2004) → EVMs + VVPAT (SCI order
2013, partial 2014, full 2019) → VVPAT with dark glass
modification (2017 onward; by 2019 full rollout). ECI has refused to
share the source code citing security concerns and objections by ECIL and BEL.
These two PSUs are sole suppliers and they have claimed IPR over the EVM’s
program – which could be easily developed by a small team of programmers in one
month. Many other countries which use some form of EVMs have published the
source code for public scrutiny, for e.g. Australia.
Today India has a first-class DPI
(Digital Public Infrastructure) but ECI is oblivious. ECI behaves as if it
is in another backward country! The errors and fraudulent additions and
deletions in the Electoral Rolls ECI prepares, even after SIR (Special
Intensive Revisions) are being uncovered daily. These wrongful
additions and deletions in electoral rolls are so striking in terms of
volumes and types that they point to ECI’s extraordinary incompetence &
arrogance, at best and, collusion with fraudsters, at worst.
ECI continues to imperil the Indian
Democracy. CECs not only tell lies, they are amazingly ignorant -
Gyaneshwar Kumar in a press
conference on 17-Aug-25 said digital electoral rolls (searchable text pdf
as opposed to scanned pdf files) are
not released because they can be edited and further, a SCI ruling of 2019
restrains ECI from releasing such searchable pdf files. He was fibbing, there
is no such ruling. Ex-CEC Rawat, in presence of two other Ex-CECs, at a
conclave on 6-Sep-25, similarly claimed electoral rolls in digital searchable
formats are not released due to fear of editing, apparently these CECs haven't
heard of DSCs (Digital Signature Certificates) which make the searchable pdf
files tamper-proof. Documents signed with DSCs are legally enforceable. Even
SCI orders are released with DSCs and published on its website. Current and
past CECs don’t seem to be aware of such basic techniques? Furthermore, editing
a file downloaded from ECI portal does not alter the state of the database on
ECI's server. Rahul Gandhi has provided proof of 12% to 17% bogus electors in
the lists of Haryana and Mahadevpura constituency. The high volume of these
"errors" coupled with ECI's policies of withholding CCTV
footage and not sharing Form 17-C immediately after poll closing time, invite
strong suspicion of hanky-panky and naturally diminish faith in the Election
system. No wonder, “Vote Chori” campaign spearheaded by LOP is gathering steam.
ECI's reputation has declined rapidly and,
today its credibility is at its nadir. [The story of ECI - A 37 min documentary by
DeshBhakt, Akash Banerjee dated 6-Sep-25]. ECI has failed to respond to
most challenges of the citizens and Opposition Parties. Unfortunately, SCI
has sided with ECI and treated citizens' challenges as motivated or instigated
by Opposition Parties. SCI has also issued absurd post-poll audit orders
which betray technical ignorance; SCI Judges are not aware that the malware
used to game EVMs can self-erase before poll closing, leaving no trace for any
auditor to find any evidence of manipulation. A few innocent contestants paid
hefty fees and asked for such audits but no one has heard anything about the
outcome so far.
There are eleven levels or stages where
elections are being subverted or could be
subverted. The delimitation of constituencies is the twelfth level where
games can be played but that is not discussed here.
The vulnerable stages in the election
system are classified based on the characteristics of fixes – S for Short-term, M for
Medium-term and L for Long-term and E for Essential or D for
Desirable (abbreviations marked in square brackets in the first column). An Opposition Leader of Bihar who was
interviewed recently identified
many stages which have likely been subverted by the ruling party.
Vulnerable Stages of Election Subversion and Fixes: TABLE
CONCLUSION
Risks India's democracy faces can be cut
significantly by implementing Actions marked S&E (Short-term &
Essential). ECI has become an untrustworthy
organisation due to EC's immunity and appointment rules. ECI's & SCI’s
rulings make reforms difficult. Therefore, public debate and persuasion is
essential. By utilising India's excellent DPI coupled with tweaking the Aadhaar
Act and making minor changes in VVPATs, we can quickly secure India's
democracy. Subversion of Indian Elections is a high stakes game and if
hacking/manipulations is being done, it is likely being done by top drawer
hackers who will NOT leave an audit trail. Reducing the need for humongous political
funding and the necessity of changing the First-Past-The-Post system need to be
much more vigorously debated. The large-scale deletion of genuine voters can be
mitigated by making citizens alert and implementing remedial action# 5.4. In
existing type of EVMs, malware introduction at DEO’s level allows a
constituency’s result to get hijacked without an audit trail. Action at Sr# 8.2
is enough to thwart EVM hacks/manipulations. CU machine ID hack is also easy but it requires more
accomplices to manage stolen machines and substitution. Actions#9,10 & 11
will thwart post-poll gaming.
