Saturday, April 20, 2013

Re: [IAC#RG] ELECTION COMMISSION UNWILLING TO ACT

The main problem faced by the electorate in India was the use of EVM-s that could be tampered by remote control to add votes to particular candidates. Congress tried the tampering in a few Constituencies in 2004 and succeeded unnoticed and the modus operandi was widely followed in 2009, thanks to Navin Chawla abetting and encouraging such tampering by delaying the counting as in Maharashtra Elections where the EVM-s were stored for 15 days in Nagpur, tampered by remote control and the Congress-NCP combine won comfortably.
 
The various demonstrations of the successful tampering of EVM-s by Hariprasad at U.S. conference attended by several experts, proved how the EVM-s used in India could be tampered. ON RETURN TO INDIA AFTER THE CONFERENCE, HARIPRASAD WAS ARRESTED AT THE AIRPORT FOR "STEALING" THE EVM A GOVT. PROPERTY.
 
Congress has successfully manipulated several constituencies through tamperable EVM-s to get their candidates elected in 2009, the Chidambaram case notably when Collector declared the results, but Navin Chawla ordered two recounts, fresh EVM-s were brought into the counting Centre and added to counting to make him get the majority. The dispute is still pending in Madurai bench of Madras High Court.
 
HOWEVER, PRESENT CEC WHO HAD WITNESSED HARIPRASAD DEMONSTRATING TAMPERABILITY OF EVM-S AT HYDERBAD MEET, COULD NOT DO ANYTHING AS CEC-3 AS NAVIN CHAWLA CLOSE TO CONGRESS WAS CALLING THE SHOTS. BUT NOW, AS CEC-1, SAMPATH COULD IMPLEMENT THE PAPER TRAIL TAMPER-PROOF METHOD OF VOTING AND HAS SUBMITTED TO THE SUPREME COURT THAT EVM-S WITH PAPER TRAILS HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPED AND TESTED, READY FOR BULK MANUFACTURE AS AN ACCESSORY ATTACHED TO EVM-S.

...Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't.  You cannot shirk this and be a man.  To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may.  ~Mark Twain
 
Hari K Prasad
Hari Prasad is one of a kind hero who is passionately interested in bringing transparency, verifiability and accountability in the voting proves in India.  Election results in 2009, ground realities, pre-election results, complaints from voters, and few opposition leaders statements raised few eyebrows to prompt Hari Prasad to look into the security and integrity of the Electronic Voting Machines. Having a background in the security systems in the computer technology, he realized that there is a potential to tamper the EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) that may compromise the election results. If one has to protect democracy where every body's vote is counted, the officials at the helm have to make sure that there is a method in place to recount the votes so that suspicion of tampering with the EVMs is eliminated. Further more efforts have to be made that the EVMs are designed in such a way that they cannot be hacked to change the voting count.
 
In May 2010 Prasad had appeared on a TV channel in Hyderabad and demonstrated how an EVM could be tampered with. In his demonstration, Prasad claimed a small component (chip) could be replaced with a lookalike and instructed to silently steal a percentage of votes in favor of a chosen candidate. In his interview, he alleged the machine could be rigged up to enable a device, such as a mobile phone, to tamper with the machine and track it. Prasad claimed a pocket-sized device could be used to change votes stored in EVMs between the elections and counting of votes.
 
Hari Prasad Arrested
The Police arrested Hari K Prasad, the technical coordinator of VeTA (Citizens for Verifiability, Transparency and Accountability in Elections) on the allegation that he stole an EVM from Mumbai. According to the police, the EVM was stolen from godown number 21 in Old Customs House in south Mumbai in April, following which a police complaint was registered. The question being asked is whether an attempt by Hari Prasad to play the role of a whistle blower proving that EVMs can be tampered can be termed as theft.
Denying that he had stolen the EVM, Hari Prasad said, "Someone came to me and asked me to show how an EVM could be tampered with." He said he handed back the machine to that person within 3-4 hours after showing him how to tamper with it. This was filmed and telecast on a private news channel, he added. "We deliberately displayed the EVM number on the television in order to show that the original machine was tampered with. Until that time, ECI had been claiming that their EVMs were in safe custody," he said.
Satya Dosapati
Satya Dosapati who is equally passionate to protect the democratic principles in India started an organization entitled "Save Indian Democracy" (SID) in USA.  Satya has been working with Hari Prasad, has reacted sharply to the sudden turn of events. Had this happened in the US, Hari Prasad would have been a hero since they would have accepted that he was only trying to fix a flaw in the system, says Satya Dosapati a key activist with Save India Democracy. In this interview, Dosapati speaks about Hari Prasad's arrest and the need to replace the EVM technology since it will only lead to more rigged elections (please visit his website for complete details: http://saveindiandemocracy.wordpress.com/)
In Feb 2010, Save Indian Democracy based in US took the best international experts Dr. Alex Halderman from US (Michigan University Computer Security research professor who hacked US EVMs and did work for CA state on US EVMs), Rop Gongrijjp from Netherlands (who was instrumental in banning EVMs in Netherlands after 2 decades of use) and Dr. Till Jaeger from Germany (attorney who argued the German Supreme Court case that banned EVMs in Germany) to India and held different conferences and addressed media.
Save Indian Democracy headed by Satya Dosapati consults with team of professionals on a regular basis across the World.  He work closely with VeTA (Citizens for Verifiability, Transparency and Accountability in Elections whose members include Hari Prasad of Net India who recently went on Indian TV showing tamperability of EVMs, GVL Narasimha Rao, a psychologist who wrote the book on EVM  "Democracy at Risk," VV Rao of NGO Jana Chaitanya Vaidika who filed lawsuit in Supreme Court, Omesh Saigal IIT Delhi alumnus and retired IAS official who challenged ECI about vulnerability of EVMs, Satinath Chaudhary who filed lawsuit with Supreme Court,  Mr. Sanjay Parikh, Supreme Court attorney and several others such as Rahul Mehta who showed ways that elections can be manipulated and Ajay Jagga an attorney very active on raising EVM issues.  There are several other activists such as Hanuman Chaudhary, Sameer Jalnapurkar, Jagadish Setty, Kirit Somaiya and others who are working to raise the consciousness of the country on the danger of using stand-alone EVM machines, which many countries are discarding.  Our work complements the work of those like Dr. Subramanian Swamy who is pursuing this issue legally.
 
NRIs have the rare opportunity to strengthen and protect DEMOCRACY in INDIA
 
We request all NRIs to look into implications of the flawed EVMs and how they can be hacked to change the count. We all need to support the movement to ban the existing EVMs and replace with verifiable EVMs with paper trail so that the integrity of the democracy is maintained. The famous author Mark Twain describes India as 'the cradle of the human race' and 'birthplace of human speech.'  William Durant declares 'India was the motherland of our race' and 'Sanskrit the mother of European Languages.' Voltaire and Schlegel are convinced that everything has come down to us from the river Ganges. In fact Max Muller declares that 'the Vedas are the oldest book in existence and carries us back to times of which we have no records anywhere.' All these achievements are due to the freedom and independence enjoyed by the great Rishis and our forefathers. Irrespective of party affiliation, every individual's vote should be counted.
 
There is indeed a close connection between religious beliefs of a people and their system of government. According to Madan Lal "Absolutist religions give rise to absolutist regimes and pluralistic religions give rise to pluralistic regimes."  
             
Realizing the gravity of the consequences, most of the parties met with the Election Commission of India in October 2010.  Most parties seemed to favor the creation of a 'paper trail' in addition to the EVM system. They felt this would inspire more confidence in voters. In fact, both winners and losers should have confidence in the election process.
 
Hari is Honored with the prestigious PIONEER Award
On October 19, 2010, The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced four winners of its 2010 Pioneer Awards: one of them is e-voting researcher Hari Krishna Prasad Vemuru, who was recently released on bail after being imprisoned for his security work in India.
 
"Hari Krishna Prasad Vemuru is a security researcher in India who recently revealed security flaws in India's paperless electronic voting machines. He has endured jail time, repeated interrogations, and ongoing political harassment to protect an anonymous source that enabled him to conduct the first independent security review of India's electronic voting system. Prasad spent a year trying to convince election officials to complete such a review, but they insisted that the government-made machines were "perfect" and "tamperproof." Instead of blindly accepting the government's claims, Prasad's international team discovered serious flaws that could alter national election results. Months of hot debate have produced a growing consensus that India's electronic voting machines should be scrapped, and Prasad hopes to help his country build a transparent and verifiable voting system."
 
The award ceremony will be held at 7:30 p.m., November 8, at the 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco. Author, blogger, and digital rights activist Cory Doctorow will host. A VIP event with Cory and the Pioneer winners -- as well as EFF founders, board members, and other luminaries -- will begin at 6:30 p.m.
 
Hari's US tour details – Please attend his lectures
Save Indian Democracy (SID) and Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) invite you to attend the lectures in the following centers. Please encourage all your friends and relatives to attend.  The Venues for the lectures are being selected as you read this email. We will notify them soon.
 
Let us stand up for dharma and freedom, let us save Indian Democracy.                                                                
Oct 27th & 28th, Edison, NJ; Meeting with lawmakers (Frank Pallone, Chivukula etc)   Satya  Dosapati (732-939-2060), Rameshji (732-423-8291), Gunjan Mishra (732-200-5839),        
Oct 28th (Thu) Princeton, NJ: lecture at 4pm, Dr. Alex Halderman (609-558-2312) 
Oct 31st (Sun) Edison, NJ; Community Program; Contact: Satya Dosapati (732-939-2060), Gunjan Mishra (732-200-5839), Ramesh Yalamanchili (732-423-8291)            
Nov 3rd (Wed) Bay Area, CA Google Lecture, Google headquarters; Dr. Alex Halderman (609-558-2312)              
Nov 4th (Thu) Bay Area, CA U.C. Berkeley Guest Lecture ;Dr. Alex Halderman (609-558-2312) UC Berkeley                         
Nov 8th (Mon) San Francisco, CA; Receive PIONEER award conferred by EFF (Dr. Alex  Halderman (609-558-2312); Mr. Jim Tyre; 111 Minna Gallery, 111  Minna  Street, San Francisco, CA                         
Nov 12th (Fri)Boston  MIT Event; Dr. Alex Halderman (609-558-2312)            
Nov 14th (Sun) Atlanta, GA Atlanta Event; Vinay Boppana (248-842-6964),  Pavan Neti   (630-338-9364) Amitabh Sharma (248-434-7480), Dhiru Shaw (770-664-8779), Subhash Razdaan (770-333-9781)                                    
Nov 15th (Mon) Atlanta, GA; Meet Jimmy Carter Center; Dr. Dill, Satya Dosapati (732-939-2060)                                                                
Nov 17th (Wed) Ann Arbor; University of Michigan lecture Dr. Alex Halderman (609-558-2312) University of Michigan                         
Nov 19th (Fri) Detroit  Community Event at Detroit Prasad  & Vinay                           
Nov 20th (Sat)  Chicago; Community Event at Chicago; Prasad Yalamanchili 630-418-1122), Madhu Patel  (847-699-8800), Amarji (847-226-4929)           
Nov 21st (Sun)Dallas Community Event at Dallas; Venue to be decided           
V. V. Prakasa Rao (601-918-7111); Ram Yalamanchili (214-663-6363);  Rajesh Veerapaneni (773-704-0405); Krishna Athota (214-912-3724
Gopal (214-868-7538); Kalyan Viswanath (614-668-1668);
For further details, please visit: 
For additional Information, Contact:
Satya Dosapati (732-939-2060), V. V. Prakasa Rao, PhD, 601-918-7111 (cell), 601-856-4783 (home); Prasad Yalamanchi (630-832-2665; 630-359-5041), Vinay 248-842-6964: Srinivas  Murthy  212-538-8716: Dr. K. R. Venkatramaiah (Canada) 416-925-8167. Nemana Satya 732-762-7104, Sekhar Reddy 954-895-1947, Tulasichand Tummala  408-786-8357,  Raju Polavaram 919-959-6141; Pavan Neti 630-338-9364.  
Jun 12 2012
Amritsar man held for bid to 'hack' EVM
Chitleen K Sethi Posted online: Tue Jun 12 2012, 00:51 hrs
Chandigarh : The Punjab police is probing an alleged bid to hack electronic voting machines (EVMs) outside some polling booths in Amritsar during the municipal corporation elections held in the state yesterday.
The police have set up a technical team to conduct the inquiry and the returning officer has recommended a repoll in the four booths concerned.
Police found cellphones and several laptops from a person rounded up from near the booths. Said Amritsar Police Commissioner R P Mittal: "It's too complicated. It's a state election commission issue. We cannot say at this stage if the hacking was successful or not."
The EVMs used in these elections are the ones used during parliamentary and assembly polls. Some Opposition parties have alleged the machines are not foolproof but the EC has several times reiterated that all checks and balances are in place.
 On Sunday, the complainant, Raj Kumar Jolly, an SAD candidate from ward 3, told the police that the alleged hacker, operating from a small photo studio, created a wireless network outside the polling station and was monitoring activity in the booths using hidden cameras. He alleged that the hacker was able to infiltrate the system. Mittal along with ACP Harjit Singh rushed to the spot and arrested the alleged hacker. The result of the polling stations have been withheld.........
 
From: S.D. Sharma <anonsharma@yahoo.com>
To: indiaresists@lists.riseup.net
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2013 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: [IAC#RG] ELECTION COMMISSION UNWILLING TO ACT

Dear Sarabjit

Have you got any reply from T.S.Krishnamurthy. As he and Lyngdoh were the original brains behind the rigged EVMs racket it will be interesting to read his exact views on Negative Voting and Neutral Voting and if he has denied that EVMs can be rigged. His Saibaba reply is an evasion. All those madrasis ECs were Saibabaists, but T.N.Seshan was certainly the worst of the lot.

SDS

On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 9:48 AM, Sarbajit Roy <sroy.mb@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Navin

I would like to inform you and our other members that I am presently in an email discussion with Mr  T.S.Krishnamurthy, former CEC concerning electoral reforms in the context of an email sent  by one of our subscribers Mr. S D Sharma referring to the ECI's 5.July.2004 D.O. on electoral reforms.

I had conveyed to Mr. Krishnamurthy the sum and substance of Mr. S D Sharma's email

https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/indiaresists/2013-03/msg00082.html

<excerpt>
"Dear Sarbjit

In 2004 the Election Commission had sent a letter to the PMO listing 8 or 10 points for urgent electoral reform. One of these was Negative/Neutral voting. The Hindustan Republican Association had submitted over 1,200 representations asking for the Negative voting as you have described.

The then CEC T.N Krishnamurthy was a pliable fellow who is great believer in Saibaba philosophy. It was arranged that a Writ Petition was filed in the Supreme Court by the PUCL asking for Neutral voting - ie. the Rule 49 O option. Krishnamurthy then clubbed and obfuscated the Negative Voting and Neutral Voting concepts in his report to make it seem that they are one and the same thing.

The Negative Voting -1 Vote concept has to properly explained to IAC's members so that these operators and fixers like Krishnamurthy, who are still in business, are exposed. "

In response Mr. T.S. Krishnamurthy has replied as follows:-

I am not surprised how misinformation takes place in this country!
I am not T.N Krishnamurthy There were M/s T N Seshan & G V G Krishnamurthy who were ardent Saibaba devotees,not me! I don't how that is relevant to our subject!
It is a pity that we Indians are so gullible & accuse the wrong persons

To which I have responded as follows:-

Could you also address the meat of my  subscriber's grievance (a minor error in initials is not worth quibbling over - for instance Mr S D Sharma did not confuse you with Mr. T.V. Krishnamurthy your co-Director in Victoire Consultants (P) Ltd), namely that in the ECI's D.O. of 5.07.2004 sent to Hon'ble Prime Minister later that month under your signature, at point No. 7 on page 14 the issue of Negative Voting / Right to Reject was brushed aside by referring to a PIL collusively filed by the PUCL, and by confusing it with Neutral Voting or 49-O.

IAC's concerned subscriber apparently takes a keen interest in these matters and had made some further claims about you and Mr. Lyngdoh in a subsequent email about rigging of elections through EVM's. and it would be ideal if the air / miasma  is cleared directly.

And am awaiting Mr. TSK's reply, if any.

Now to your problem,

1) Is the Election Commission bound to take note of your suggestions ? How did you represent to the ECI so that they were compelled to consider your suggestions ?

If I read Mr Venkatraman's email below correctly he clearly refers to UNWRITTEN Powers of ECI purportedly residing / inherent (as per him) in the ECI on a fallacious (as per me) reading of "ensuring free and fair elections".

When read in conjunction with what Mr. T.S.Krishnamurthy sent to the PM on 05.07.2004 at Point #3 "Criminalisation of Politics" or suchlike, it is clear that only the Govt can resolve the problem - either by suitable legislation or by Constitutional amendment(s) and the ECI has no role to play on its own.

Sarbajit

On Sat, Apr 6, 2013 at 7:21 AM, Navin Pandya <navinpandya1954@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Friends,

Election Commission is not discharging its obligatory duties to strengthen Democracy. It has not responded to my suggestions about Democratic Reforms.

Navin Pandya


On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 7:50 PM, Venkatraman Ns <nsvenkatchennai@gmail.com> wrote:
To
India Against corruption                                          

                     ELECTION  COMMISSION  UNWILLING  TO  ACT
In response to a submission made to the Election Commission by  Nandini Voice for The Deprived, a Chennai based NGO (www.nandinivoice.org), suggesting  that the Election Commission should use its residual and inherent powers and ban corrupt persons and criminals against whom charges have been admitted in the court from contesting in the election, in its  detailed reply, Election Commission has said vide its letter No. 4/3/2013/SDR/253  dated 22nd March,2013  amongst various points, the following.
"  In matters which are covered by law, the Commission cannot issue directions contrary to the provisions of the law. In view of the clear provisions laid down in the Act regarding disqualification on the ground for conviction for criminal offenses, the Commission cannot issue directions under Article 324 as sought in your letter".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
By way of reply, another submission was made by Nandini Voice for The Deprived to Election Commission on 29th March,2013, stating the following amongst various other points.    
1.        Responsibility  and duty of the Election Commission
In your letter, you have extensively discussed about the terms of the law and interpretation of the law by Supreme Court. But, you have not said anything about your duty and responsibility to ensure free and fair polls as enshrined in the Constitution of India.
As you know, the Election Commission is a permanent Constitutional body and  its status and the people's expectations about the Election Commission are totally different from that of the bureaucracy.  Therefore, the Election Commission has to approach any issue with a far sighted and integrated view , as its  functions and decisions  would have far reaching impact on the destiny of the country.  It should not be satisfied merely by quoting  the provisions of an existing law as interpreted and then refrain from taking any actions  to ensure free and fair elections, pleading helplessness.  This would amount to abdication of responsibility and failing to live upto the expectations of the Constitution makers and citizens.
In short, it can be said that just as the Supreme Court, Election Commission is also the conscience keeper of India.  It has the primary task of fulfilling its responsibility to ensure free and fair elections and it should make utmost efforts to undo any obstacles in the way of fulfilling its responsibility as  enshrined in the Constitution.
2.      Inherent  and residual powers
Given the duty and responsibility entrusted to Election Commission by the Constitution  to ensure free and fair elections, the Election Commission should pass appropriate regulations, which should include  the move to ban corrupt persons and criminals from contesting elections against whom charges have been admitted in the court.   Election Commission would lose its importance   and would not be able to fulfil its responsibility, if it simply thinks that it has been vested  with the  responsibility without authority.
2.        Seek the views of Supreme Court :
If the Election Commission thinks that  it cannot do so due to the earlier interpretation of law and verdict given by the Supreme Court in some other circumstances, then it should straightaway take the matter to the Supreme Court and express its views to it and ask the court to clarify whether the Election Commission can go ahead imposing the ban . Supreme Court would certainly give an opportunity to the Election Commission to explain its view points  and the compelling circumstances.   In all probability, Supreme Court would consider the issue threadbare and give its verdict, according due consideration for the views of the Election Commission , which is a  permanent constitutional body.
4.        What Mahatma Gandhi would have thought ?
Perhaps, Mahatma Gandhi would have thought that the Election Commissioners  should resign  if they would face a situation where they  would  be  unable to  conduct  free and fair polls as enshrined in the Constitution and thus failing in their responsibility, due to reasons beyond their control.
------------------------------------------------------
The reply from Election commission to the above points is still awaited ,with the hope that the Election Commission would show the will to act in the interest of the larger good for the country.
N.S.Venkataraman
Nandini Voice for the Deprived
 
 
 
 




--
"CORRUPT AND UNACCOUNTABLE PUBLIC SERVANTS ARE THE GREATEST ENEMIES OF THE SOCIETY."

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