Department of Information and Public Relations

Press Release No. 360/09

PRESS RELEASE

Meghalaya Chief Minister, Dr D D Lapang today inaugurated the newly constructed office building of the Superintendent of Police, Jaintia Hills District at Jowai in the presence of the Agriculture Minister, Dr R C Laloo who is also the local MLA among others.

The Office building was constructed by the MGCC at an estimated cost of Rs 83 Lakhs.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Lapang said that Law and Order is one of the top priorities of the Government. He said that the inauguration of the SP office is one way of providing better infrastructure to the Police personnel so that they can function effectively. He said that it is encouraging to know that Jainitia Hills District does not have a law and order problem which is an indicator of development. He also informed that recently during the meeting on Internal Security held at New Delhi under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, he impress upon the Central Government to provide the State with a “Peace Package” bonus as Meghalaya is a peaceful State with no law and order problem.

Dr Lapang said that besides the normal service the police personnel render to the public, they should also make an effort to build up a better relationship with the public so that they can get good cooperation while discharging their duties.

Among others who spoke on the occasion were the Agriculture Minister, Dr R C Laloo, Principal Secretary Home, Mr P B O Warjri, DGP, Mr B Kezo, the Deputy Commissioner, Jaintia Hills District, Mr T Dkhar and the Superintendent of Police, Mr M K Singh.

Press Release No. 361/09

PRESS RELEASE

Consequent to the reservations expressed by certain persons about the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the Election Commission of India (ECI), in an extraordinary measure has invited such persons to come and demonstrate the points made in their allegations from August 3 to 8 2009. Among those invited included political parties, petitioners before various courts and some individuals. One hundred EVM samples were obtained on random basis from ten states. The EVMs were offered for such demonstration in the presence of the Technical Experts and Engineers of the EVMs manufacturers, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), who were station in ECI’s office for a whole week for this specific purpose. The outcome of this exercise is that none of the persons, who were given the opportunity, did actually demonstrate any tamperability of the ECI-EVM, in any of the hundred machines put on display. They either failed or choose not to demonstrate.

The following are certain facts about EVMs used by ECI:-

i. ECI-EVMs are manufactured only by Electronics Corporation of India (Department of Atomic Energy) and Bharat Electronics Limited (Ministry of Defence), both Central Public Sector Undertakings, which are entrusted with development of very high security produce/equipment development. ii. The ECI-EVMs cannot be reprogrammed. iii. The software for this chip is developed in-house by a select group of engineers in the two PSUs independently from each other. A select software development group of 2-3 engineers designs the source code and this work is not sub-contracted. iv. The source code is so designed that it allows a voter to cast the vote only once. The next vote can be recorded only after the Presiding Officer enables the ballot on the Control Unit. In between the machine becomes dead to any signal from outside (except from the Control Unit). v. After completion of software design, testing and evaluation of the software is carried out by an independent testing group as per the software requirements specifications (SRS). This ensures that the software has really been written as per the requirements laid down for its intended use only. vi. After successful completion of such evaluation, machine code of the source programme code known as hex-code (not the source code itself) is given to the micro controller manufacturer for fusing in the micro controllers. From this machine code, the source code cannot be read. Source code is never handed over to anyone outside the software group. vii. Micro controller manufacturer initially provides engineering samples for evaluation. These samples are assembled into the EVM, evaluated and verified for functionally at great length. Bulk production clearance is given to micro controller manufacturer only after successful completion of this verification. viii. The source code for the EVM is stored under controlled conditions at all times. Checks and balances are in place to ensure that it is accessible to authorized personnel only. ix. During production, functional testing is done by production group as per the laid down quality plan and performance test procedures. x. Samples of EVMs from production batches are regularly checked for functionality by Quality Assurance Group, which is an independent group within the organizations. xi. Certain additional features were introduced in 2006 in ECI-EVMs such as dynamic coding between Ballot Unit and Control Unit, installation of real time clock, installation of full display system and date and time stamping of every key pressing in EVM. It is important to note that there was no modification of any type done at this stage in the basic functions of the machine.

Details of the Press Note issued on August 8, 2009 may be seen in the Website of the Election Commission of India.