Zeack News

Chennai, Jun 20 : Seeking to allay fears expressed by some political parties that the EVMs can be tampered with, former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami today said the Electronic Voting Machines are "totally reliable".

"EVM is a stand-alone machine, which is totally reliable," Gopalaswami, who retired as CEC in the midst of the recent Lok Sabha elections, said.



Unlike in other countries, EVMs used in India are of the "single way communication" type, he said, adding that software in a chip placed inside the EVMs cannot be tampered with.



Only less than 0.5 per cent of the EVMs in the country reportedly malfunctioned in the recent General election, he said, speaking at a function on 'election 2009-an analysis'.



Referring to the general elections, he said out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, 448 successful candidates secured only less than 50 per cent votes. Zeack