Electronic voting machine

Also called: EVM · Topic: Elections and the Electoral System · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 5 "Universal Franchise and India's Electoral System"; Class 9, Ch 7 "Elections"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Era of One-Party Dominance"

Meaning

An electronic voting machine (EVM) is a standalone electronic device that records and counts votes in place of paper ballots. It was first tried in 1982 and has been used in all 543 Lok Sabha constituencies since 2004 [3]. Since the 2019 Lok Sabha election, every EVM has worked with a VVPAT (a printer that shows the voter a paper slip of their choice).

It matters because EVMs removed invalid votes and made counting faster. The debate over whether voters can trust them has produced several major Supreme Court judgments (2013, 2019 and 2024).

Explanation

Parts and how one vote is cast

• Two units joined by a cable about five metres long [2]:
• Control unit (CU): kept with the Presiding Officer (the officer in charge of the polling station). It stores and counts the votes.

• Ballot unit (BU): kept inside the voting compartment. It has a blue button next to each candidate's name and symbol.

• Steps to cast one vote: 1. The Presiding Officer presses the "BALLOT" button on the control unit. This "releases" one vote. 2. The voter presses the button next to their chosen candidate on the ballot unit. 3. The VVPAT prints a slip and shows it behind glass for 7 seconds. The slip then drops into a sealed box [2]. 4. Only after the slip falls does the VVPAT signal the control unit to record the vote [4]. 5. The control unit records the vote and beeps [4].

• Help for voters with disabilities: the ballot unit has braille numbers next to its buttons (NCERT Class 9).

• M3 EVMs (in use after 2013) [2][4]:
• each ballot unit has 16 buttons, including NOTA (None of the Above);
• up to 24 ballot units can be joined to one control unit;
• so one set can handle up to 384 candidates, including NOTA.

Built-in safeguards

• Burnt, one-time-programmable memory: the control unit's software is written onto its chip once, at the factory. It cannot be changed later [4].
• The control unit does not know candidates' names or party symbols. It records only which button was pressed [4].

• It can store up to 2,000 votes [4].

• Standalone: EVMs are not connected to any network and cannot be linked to any other machine [4].

• Unauthorised Access Detection Mechanism: if anyone tries to open the chip or memory, the machine shuts down for good [4].
• First Level Checking (FLC): every machine is checked before it is used.
• Engineers test all machines.

• Representatives of recognised parties pick 5% of them for a bigger mock poll [4].

• Two public sector makers, not private firms [4]:

• Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), under the Ministry of Defence;
• Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), under the Department of Atomic Energy.

VVPAT: the paper check on the machine

• Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT): a printer joined to the EVM. Its slip shows the candidate's serial number, name and symbol [2].
• Symbol loading: 10-15 days before the poll, a symbol loading unit puts candidates' names and symbols into the VVPAT's flash memory as small picture files. This memory holds 4 MB [4].
• How many slips are counted:
• At first, the slips of one EVM in each assembly segment were counted.

• Since N. Chandrababu Naidu (2019), slips of five randomly chosen EVMs per assembly segment are counted [4].

• Rule 56D (Conduct of Election Rules, 1961):

• A candidate or agent can apply in writing to the Returning Officer (the officer who runs the count and declares the result) to count the slips of any polling station.
• The Returning Officer gives a reasoned decision in writing.
• If the paper count and the EVM count differ, the paper count wins, and the result sheet (Form 20) is corrected [4].

Advantages and limits

• Why EVMs replaced paper (NCERT Class 8):
• No invalid votes. A button cannot be pressed "wrongly" the way a paper ballot can be marked wrongly.
• Faster counting.
• Less reason to capture booths (booth capturing means taking over a polling station by force). Someone can stuff a ballot box quickly. An EVM is slow for this, because the Presiding Officer must release each vote and the machine takes only a few votes a minute.

• Less paper used.

• Checks at counting: the EVM total is matched with Form 17C, the Presiding Officer's record of the number of votes cast at that station. Each polling agent gets a copy when the poll closes.

• Where EVMs are not used:
• Tendered votes (given to a real voter when someone else has already voted in their name) are cast on a paper ballot. They are kept aside and not counted.

• Postal ballots are paper ballots and are counted first.

• After the result: EVMs stay sealed in strong rooms (guarded store rooms) for 45 days. This is the time limit for filing an election petition (a case in the High Court challenging the result) [4].

In the Constitution and practice

• Legal basis: the Constitution places the conduct of elections under the Election Commission of India (Article 324). But the use of machines needed a law made by Parliament:
• In A.C. Jose v. Sivan Pillai (1984), the Supreme Court set aside the result of the first EVM poll. The law in force at the time had no provision for voting by machine.

• In 1988, Parliament added s.61A to the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RPA). EVMs could be used from 15 March 1989 [3].

• Timeline of rollout:

Year	Event
1977	Idea proposed by Chief Election Commissioner S.L. Shakdhar [3]
1979-80	Prototype made by ECIL and BEL; shown to political parties on 6 August 1980 [3]
1982	First use in 50 polling stations of Paravur (Parur) assembly constituency, Kerala [3]
1984	A.C. Jose sets aside the Paravur result
1988-89	s.61A added to RPA; in force from 15 March 1989 [3]
1998	Used in 25 assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi [3]
2001	All assembly seats in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal [3]
2004	Over one million EVMs in all 543 Lok Sabha constituencies [3]
2013	First VVPAT: 51-Noksen (ST) assembly by-election, Nagaland [3]
2014	VVPAT in 8 Lok Sabha seats [3]
2019	VVPAT in all constituencies in the Lok Sabha election

• Landmark cases:
• Subramanian Swamy v. ECI (2013): a "paper trail" is an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections [4]. The Conduct of Election Rules were then amended on 14 August 2013 to bring in VVPAT [4].
• PUCL v. Union of India (27 September 2013): the Court held that the right to reject all candidates in secret is part of the freedom of expression (Article 19(1)(a)). It directed that a NOTA button be added to EVMs. NOTA was first used in the November-December 2013 assembly elections.
• N. Chandrababu Naidu v. Union of India (2019): opposition parties asked for 50% of VVPAT slips to be counted. The Court raised the check from one EVM to five randomly chosen EVMs per assembly segment [4].
• Association for Democratic Reforms v. Union of India (26 April 2024; Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta):
  • The Court rejected the pleas for a return to paper ballots and for counting 100% of VVPAT slips [4].
  • Direction 1: after symbol loading (done on or after 1 May 2024), symbol loading units are sealed and kept for 45 days after the result [4].
  • Direction 2: a burnt-memory check of 5% of EVMs (control unit, ballot unit and VVPAT) in each assembly segment, done by the makers' engineers [4]:
  • only the candidate who came 2nd or 3rd can ask for it;
  • the request must be made within 7 days of the result;
  • the candidate pays the cost, which is returned if tampering is found.
  • The Court noted that at least 50% of polling stations have CCTV, and the footage is kept for 45 days [4].

Don't confuse with

• VVPAT: the EVM records and counts the vote. The VVPAT only prints a paper slip so the voter can check their choice and the count can be audited. The VVPAT came much later (2013) and was required by Subramanian Swamy, not by s.61A.
• Control unit vs ballot unit: the control unit is with the Presiding Officer and stores the votes (up to 2,000). The ballot unit is in the voting compartment and only has the buttons the voter presses.
• Tendered vote: it is not cast on the EVM. It is a paper ballot (Rule 42; Rule 49P for EVM polls), kept as evidence and never counted.
• NOTA: a button on the EVM, not a separate machine or a "right to reject". NOTA votes are counted and announced but cannot change the result.

Prelims Hooks

• s.61A, RPA 1951 (added 1988, in force 15 March 1989) allows EVMs [3]. A.C. Jose (1984) set aside the first EVM poll because no law allowed it.
• Firsts: EVM in Paravur, Kerala (1982) [3]; all 543 Lok Sabha seats in 2004 [3]; first VVPAT in Noksen, Nagaland (2013) [3]; VVPAT everywhere from 2019.
• Makers: BEL (Ministry of Defence) and ECIL (Department of Atomic Energy). Both are public sector companies, not private firms [4].
• M3 EVM: 16 buttons × 24 ballot units = 384 candidates including NOTA. A control unit stores up to 2,000 votes [4].
• Case–principle pairs: Subramanian Swamy (2013): paper trail "indispensable". Chandrababu Naidu (2019): VVPAT check raised from 1 to 5 EVMs per assembly segment. ADR (2024): no 100% VVPAT count; 5% burnt-memory check on request by the 2nd- or 3rd-placed candidate within 7 days [4].
• Trap: under Rule 56D, if the VVPAT slip count and the EVM count differ, the paper count wins [4].

Mains Points

• Machine accuracy vs voter trust:
• EVMs removed invalid votes, cut counting time and made booth capturing less useful. The machines are standalone and one-time-programmable [4].
• But whether voters trust the result is a separate question. VVPAT (2013), the five-EVM check (2019) and the 2024 burnt-memory check each tried to close this gap.

• The open question is how much random checking is enough compared with a slower 100% paper count, which the Supreme Court rejected in ADR (2024) [4].

• Courts and the law have shaped the EVM step by step:

• A.C. Jose (1984) made Parliament give EVMs a legal basis (s.61A).
• Subramanian Swamy (2013) and PUCL (2013) added the paper trail and the NOTA button.

• This shows how free and fair elections, part of universal adult franchise (Article 326), depend on both technology and legal checks.

• Layered safeguards protect "one person, one vote": FLC, mock polls, Form 17C matching, VVPAT counting, CCTV, and sealed strong rooms for 45 days work together [4]. They also preserve evidence for an election petition, so a challenge to an EVM result can be tested in court.

Related concepts

• Indelible ink
• Tendered vote
• Booth capturing
• Voter verifiable paper audit trail
• NOTA
• NOTA case

Read more

• Polling and counting: EVMs, VVPAT and NOTA