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

A group of 83 citizens on Friday submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission, voicing concerns over electoral transparency. They put forward six demands, including making voter lists searchable and publicly releasing the source code of electronic voting machines.

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 be uploaded publicly.

The Election Commission is represented at the polling station by a presiding officer. When voting finishes at a polling station, the presiding officer fills Form 17C, which has details like the number...

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