The Himalayan mountains and the tropical Andaman Islands serve as endpoints for a remarkable logistical operation in India, where officials are employing helicopters, buses, trucks, boats, donkeys, and mules to transport electronic voting machines for the country’s gigantic national election. Election officials are navigating dense jungles and snow-covered mountain trails, even wading through rivers, to establish polling stations in tents, shipping containers, and school buildings located in remote areas. This massive seven-phase election, taking place in the world’s most populous country with over 1.4 billion people, commenced last week and will conclude on June 1. Approximately 970 million voters, representing over 10% of the global population, will participate in the staggered elections to choose 543 members for Parliament’s lower house, with a five-year term. The votes will be counted on June 4.
In the first phase of voting, held in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri parliamentary constituency, four donkeys transported voting machines to the Kottur hills. However, in West Bengal’s Srikhola village, situated 6,400 feet above sea level, officials were unable to utilize mules due to a ban imposed by the forest department to prevent the spread of viral diseases. Instead, porters were employed to carry the machines to the polling center.
For over two decades, India has transitioned from traditional ballot papers to electronic voting machines. Voters cast their ballots by pressing a button corresponding to the candidate’s name or party symbol displayed on the machine’s screen. These party symbols encompass a wide range, including a lotus, hand, bow, arrow, pressure cooker, hammer, sickle, kettle, balloon, and torch.
Each electronic voting machine comprises three components: a ballot unit, a control unit operated by an official to ensure single-time voting, and a voter verifiable paper audit trail unit (VVPAT), which generates a paper slip for verification if the vote is challenged.
Opposition parties, such as the Congress and Communist Party of India, have advocated for a return to paper ballots, alleging manipulation of voting machines as the cause for their repeated defeats to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Despite petitions filed with India’s Supreme Court, their efforts have remained unsuccessful.
The Election Commission of India maintains that its voting machines are not computer-controlled, but rather standalone devices that are not connected to the internet or any other network, eliminating the possibility of remote hacking.
