Who designed the Electronic Voting Machine?
In india, this machine has been prepared by two government companies. These companies are Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), which comes under the Ministry of Defense, and Electronics Corporation of india Limited (ECIL), which comes under the Department of Atomic Energy.
The idea of using this machine first came in 1977
According to the election commission, the idea of using machines for voting in this country first came in the year 1977. The then Chief election Commissioner S.L. Shakdhar had talked about the use of voting machines. At that time the responsibility of designing and developing this machine was given to Electronics Corporation of india Limited, Hyderabad. For the first time in the year 1979, a model of EVM was developed in india, which was demonstrated in front of the election commission on 6 august 1980. Later BEL company of Bengaluru was also selected to develop it.
Can EVMs be tampered with?
In the month of May 2010, scientists from Michigan university of America claimed that they had such technology using which they can hack India's EVMs. Researchers have claimed that the results of EVM machines can be changed by text messages from mobile. However, former election Commissioner TS krishnamurthy has a completely different opinion in this regard.
Answering this question in a BBC report, he said, "The design of the machines that are used in india are very strong machines and I do not think that it is so easy to hack." He further said, "It is possible that the officials operating the machines at the polling booth may not be able to operate them properly, but these machines have to undergo very rigorous testing before voting." krishnamurthy also said, "Even though there have been allegations of EVMs being hacked before, these allegations have still not been proved in the court and the supreme court has rejected the case."
