Study od sensation created by electronic voting machine in online media and voting performance in Loksabha 2019 election

Abstract

During 2019 Lok Sabha election in India, there was much discussion in social media and news media regarding Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). There was much allegation and counter allegation of hacking of the EVM machines in the general elections which saw resounding victory for the ruling party BJP. Demand for bringing back ballot paper was also raised. In 2010, an Indian activist scientist along with 2 international scientists hacked EVM for research and also published a paper on hacking EVMs. In 2017, Bombay High Court directed lab test has yielded that tampering of EVM is not feasible. Again, in May 2017, AAP MLA demonstrated that hacking is possible with a lookalike EVM in parliament. So, there is no conclusive evidence yet and being an electronic gadget, it is under constant scrutiny. The citizens of the largest democracy in the world, are yet to pronounce its verdict on EVM. Periodic propping up of EVM hacking allegation by different political parties also makes the situation worse.