Election Commission cleared the apprehensions of India alliance in FAQ, also said EVM is fine, said this about software
Damini Nath
The Election Commission has amended its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to answer all the questions of political parties. In July, members of the opposition INDIA Bloc had written a letter to the Election Commission expressing concern over the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs). To clear the doubts raised in this, the Election Commission has revised its FAQ page. It also explains how Indian EVMs are different from the EVMs banned in Germany; Does the VVPAT have a programmable memory; And whether EVM makers share software with foreign microchip makers.
Opposition parties had said that the Election Commission was not interested in meeting them
The INDIA block had recently passed a resolution on December 19, stating that the Election Commission is “reluctant to meet the Indian delegation on this….” A source told The Sunday Express that the Election Commission has already responded to the coalition. The Election Commission’s response referred to the revised FAQs on EVMs uploaded in August. The revised FAQs were uploaded on 23 August and included 76 questions; In the previous version, 39 questions were answered.
Election Commission has also informed about both the EVM manufacturing companies.
Among the new questions answered on the FAQ page is whether both EVM manufacturers, Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd, “share confidential software programs with foreign chip makers so that it can be copied onto the microcontrollers used in EVMs.” To be.”
In its reply the EC writes: “The microcontrollers are ported with firmware by BEL/ECIL inside their factories under high level of safety and security measures. Through a 4 level secure manufacturing process (secure manufacturing facility), the microcontroller is ported to the L3 area, where only designated engineers have authorized access through access cards and biometric scans. “No external agency, whether indigenous or foreign, is involved in loading the firmware program into the microcontroller.”
On VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail), the Election Commission writes that VVPAT has two types of memory – one where program instructions for the microcontroller are stored which can be programmed only once and the other where graphical images are stored. Where the symbols of the candidates are filled in in the presence of the candidates or their representatives.
