BEL says EVMs are tamper-proof

‘Gadgets designed to EC specifications’

Bharat Electronics Ltd., one of the two manufacturers of electronic voting machines (EVMs), has defended its products as safe and fully tamper-proof.

BEL CMD M.V. Gowtama said the machines had been designed to the specifications of the Election Commission.

‘Verified machines’

“Our machines cannot be tampered with. They are verified at several levels; by an independent technical expert committee, the quality verified by STQC, they go through administrative checks and field tests, including by election candidates and polling agents at every booth,” he said at an annual news conference on Wednesday.

Describing EVMs as “simple calculators” that are not connected to any network or the Internet, Mr. Gowtama said: “They are the ones for taking democracy forward in the country.”

Parties complain

Two political parties who have complained against the machines were expected to take up the EC challenge, starting on June 3, to prove that the machines were manipulated during previous elections. “We can wait for its outcome,” he said.

Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. is the other producer. The EC has split its 16-lakh requirement between the two manufacturers and asked them to include the printable voter record, called VVPAT, in the new machines.