By Ravi Visvesvaraya Sharada PrasadMonday’s bypolls were marred by accusations of large-scale malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) with voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs). The Election Commission (EC) said 96 balloting units and 84 control units of EVMs and 1,202 VVPATs had to be replaced. EC blamed the malfunctions on the heat, adding “officials who skipped training programmes, and spent time on their phones during training, placed the machines in direct sunlight, and at places where the heat-sensitive nature of the device created problems”.VVPATs are manufactured by the public sector Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and Electronics Corp of India Ltd (ECIL). BEL stated that all the machines supplied to EC are “rigorously tested to work under varying conditions” and that there are no design flaws in them.EC, on its part, stated that it “undertakes a comprehensive examination and root-cause analysis of all defects observed in the machines through the technical experts committee of the Commission and necessary remedial actions are being taken”.Both these statements are wishywashy on the technical details of what went wrong and why, as well as on the remedial measures that will be taken. Palghar collector confessed that EC authorities “faced problems” even during the first-level checks carried out on these machines a few days before.As long-standing suppliers to the Indian defence sector, both BEL and ECIL ought to have expertise in manufacturing ‘ruggedised’ electronics, which can withstand extreme heat and cold, humidity, dust, as well as shocks. Commercial and industrial ruggedised systems usually adhere to a standard called MIL-STD-810G, which was developed for the US military in the 1960s.These test electronic equipment for ‘exposure to high and low temperatures plus temperature shock (both operating and in storage); rain (including wind blown and freezing rain); humidity, fungus, salt fog for rust testing; sand and dust exposure; leakage; acceleration; shock and transport shock; random vibration….’It is not known if the VVPATs have been tested to MIL-STD-810G, althoughother BEL and ECIL equipment for the Indian armed forces are. International Electrotechnical Commission’s Ingress Protection Marking (IP) also rate systems against dust, immersion in water, accidental contact, intrusion for tampering, etc. Most smartphones, laptops, cameras and consumer electronics have IP ratings.Heat and DustA cellphone handset rated at IP58 is dust-resistant and can be immersed in 1.5 m of freshwater for up to 30 minutes without sustaining damage. It is not known if the VVPATs have an IP rating, especially against dust and exposure to moisture, and atmospheric contaminants.There is no reason why VVPATs should not be able to withstand ambient temperatures of 60° C, especially if they use ruggedised components, with conformal coatings. For instance, the railways use European Standard EN 50155, where the electronics systems are required to perform in ambient temperatures ranging from –25° C to 70° C.Unlike smartphones and laptops, where space on the circuit board is scarce for installing on-board cooling systems, fans, heat sinks and other cooling systems can be installed within the EVM cabinets. Even if they fail due to heating in operation, cooling silver paints (used when laptops heat up) can be applied.Media reports stated that the VVPATs failed in the morning itself. If there is data on the comparison of the failures in the morning as compared to the hotter afternoons, it can indicate if heating was, indeed, the cause of the malfunctions.It is unclear if the BEL only type tested — where a small sample from each batch of production is tested for meeting environmental conditions —or if each individual VVPAT was comprehensively tested. The fact that VVPATs failed in the morning itself indicates that temperature was unlikely to be the cause. More likely, it was moisture accumulated during 2-3 days of storage. It is not known if conformal coatings were used in the VVPATs to protect against moisture accumulation during storage.For years, numerous doubts have been raised about the reliability of EVMs. EC, BEL and ECIL have not helped by being secretive about their design and testing. Their bland claim that EVMs are totally reliable and can’t be hacked can’t be accepted at face value. Every engineer knows that there is no such thing as a secure or error-free electronics system, or a computer program that can’t be broken into.The Hackathon that was announced with great fanfare by EC a few months ago was fundamentally flawed. Electronics engineers have known since World War 2 that merely by observing equipment in operation, or by analysing lines of software code, one can’t determine conclusively if the equipment or program actually performs the functions it was intended to perform without errors.Long On and Short CircuitTake a person who knows nothing at all about cricket, and have him watch a few Test matches. After that, challenge him to write the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) Laws of Cricket in their exact order. Clearly, an impossible task. For instance, if there is no instance of hit wicket in a Test series, the observer can’t even imagine that such a mode of dismissal exists. So, from merely observing a VVPAT for a few hours, one can’t determine if it accurately records the intentions of the voters.To allay apprehensions, BEL, ECIL and EC should release the circuit specifications of VVPATs, as well as details of the thermal stress tests, humidity tests, jerk and shock tests conducted on them.The writer is a telecom and IT consultant who provided expert testimony about EVMs in high courts before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections