Make voter lists searchable, release EVM source code: Citizens’ collective to EC

Making voter lists searchable and releasing the source code of electronic voter machines would help increase public confidence in the electoral system, a citizens’ group told the Election Commission on Friday.

It was among the six suggestions the group of 83 made to the commission in light of a survey showing that only 28% of Indians today retain trust in the Election Commission – “an alarming indicator of democratic backsliding”, they said.

They contended that without a searchable database, citizens have no way to independently verify if all eligible residents are listed as voters or if those who have died have been removed from the official voter list.

“A failure to meet this demand, can only mean that the ECI is not technologically equipped to so provide,” the memorandum added.

Questioning why the source code for voting machines is not publicly available, the memorandum asked: “Why is there such secrecy around an apparently humble source code which does harmless things like recording votes and counting votes for each candidate on Buttons of the Ballot Unit?”

Besides, the group of citizens under the banner of “Vote for Democracy” called for Form 17C data from all booths and constituencies in a searchable format, along with aggregate vote counts for public scrutiny, to...

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