The Election Commission of India (ECI) confirms that Electronic Voting Machines are tamper-proof after a full verification process, addressing the ongoing EVM hacking row and opposition allegations.
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NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has come forward with a strong reaffirmation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs): EVMs are tamper-proof.
Following the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, concerns were raised by candidates and opposition parties about alleged discrepancies between EVM results and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. Responding to formal requests from 10 candidates, the Checking and Verification (C&V) process was ordered and completed across 10 Assembly constituencies in the state.
As part of this rigorous process, the ECI tested:
- 48 Ballot Units
- 31 Control Units
- 31 VVPATs
The verification included diagnostic tests, mock polls, and manual VVPAT tallying, and the results were conclusive. There was zero mismatch found between the EVM results and the paper trail count.
This process wasn’t conducted behind closed doors. It involved:
- Eight of the 10 candidates who filed the C&V applications
- Losing candidates from the constituencies
- Representatives of other contesting candidates
“CEC carried out the exercise across 10 Assembly constituencies and found that in all cases the machines passed the diagnostic tests and there has been no mismatch in the count of VVPAT slips. This exercise proves, yet again, that the EVMs are tamper-proof”,
stated in the statement released by ECI.
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In short, this wasn’t just a technical validation; it was a transparent and inclusive process overseen by authorized engineers from Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), the manufacturer of the EVMs.
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The constituencies covered in this verification included:
- Kopri-Pachpakhadi and Thane (Thane district)
- Khadakwasla (Pune district)
- Majalgaon (Beed district)
- Arni (Yavatmal)
- Yevla (Nashik district)
- Chandgad and Kolhapur North (Kolhapur district)
- Panvel and Alibaug (Raigad district)
The exercise follows allegations by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), who voiced suspicions about mismatched vote counts and potential EVM manipulation in the Assembly polls. The ECI’s move to perform the C&V process and publicly share its findings aims to restore public trust and silence misinformation around India’s electronic voting infrastructure.
The ECI statement reads,
“After the diagnostic test, the authorised engineers from the manufacturer (Electronics Corporation of India Limited) certified that all machines passed the diagnostic tests. Thereafter, a mock poll was conducted on the machines as per the request received from the candidates. The results of the EVM (from the Control Unit) were verified with the VVPAT slips count, and no mismatch was found.”
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