THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- October 2, 2017- Topic 2

Back to paper

On using VVPAT in Gujarat polls

The Election Commission’s decision to deploy the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail system for all the constituencies in the Gujarat Assembly elections is questionable. This will be the first time VVPAT will be used on a State-wide basis. A costly but useful complement to the Electronic Voting Machine, it allows the voter to verify her vote after registering it on the EVM, and the paper trail allows for an audit of the election results by the EC in a select and randomised number of constituencies. 

The implementation of VVPAT was to have been undertaken by the EC in a phased manner, but this blanket use appears to have been expedited after a series of unwarranted attacks on EVMs by some political parties and scaremongers. The EC had sought to allay concerns and confront allegations of voter fraud by running through the administrative and technological safeguards instituted to keep EVMs and the voting process tamper-proof. It had also challenged political parties to a hackathon to see if, with these safeguards in place, EVMs could be manipulated. The representatives of only two political parties, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Nationalist Congress Party, bothered to turn up. It is unfortunate that parties have found it worthwhile to cry wolf but refuse to meaningfully engage with the EC when challenged to do so. The introduction of VVPAT and the audit process should allay some of the doubts raised by EVM naysayers — but this is a costly process and should not become the norm going forward.

Meanwhile, it would be wise for the EC to rapidly transit to third-generation, tamper-proof machines, which must be thoroughly tested and vetted by experts before deployment. The EC’s use of a standalone, non-networked machine that runs on a single programmed microchip shows that India’s simple but effective EVMs were ahead of the curve compared to the alternatives used elsewhere in the world. Many advanced democracies used networked EVMs, which raised the question of remote manipulation through viruses and malware, compelling many of them to revert to paper ballots. The EC has so far demonstrated that the voting process is robust and its machines are continually upgraded to meet possible challenges, but there are other concerns regarding the use of technology that it must be aware of. For example, Russian cyber-hacking, using techniques such as spear-phishing of election officials and related manipulation of voter data, has been suspected in some jurisdictions abroad. The EC’s move in late 2015 to avoid the linking of the voter identity card with the Aadhaar number in order to avoid the trap of linkages with big data, thus becoming susceptible to digital manipulation, was thus a wise decision. It must continue to keep its processes decentralised and accountable.

Vocabulary

Deploy: move troops into position for military action.

Example: Forces were deployed at strategic locations

Synonyms: position, station, post, place, install, locate, situate, site

Complement: a thing that completes or brings to perfection.

Example: The libretto proved a perfect complement to the music

Synonyms: accompaniment, companion, addition, supplement

Randomised: make unpredictable, unsystematic, or random in order or arrangement

Example: The order of the questions was randomized but was the same for all participants

Blanket: covering all cases or instances.

Example: A blanket ban on tobacco advertising

Synonyms: complete, total, comprehensive, overall, general, mass

Expedite: make an action or process happen sooner or be accomplished more quickly.

Example: He promised to expedite economic reforms

Synonyms: speed up, accelerate, hurry, hasten, step up, quicken,

Allegation: a claim or assertion that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically one made without proof.

Example: He made allegations of corruption against the administration

Synonyms: claim, assertion, charge, accusation, declaration, statement

Confront: meet someone face to face with hostile or argumentative intent.

300 policemen confronted an equal number of union supporters

Synonyms: challenge, face up to, come face to face with, meet

Manipulate: control or influence a person or situation cleverly, unfairly, or unscrupulously.

Example: The masses were deceived and manipulated by a tiny group

Synonyms: control, influence, use/turn to one's advantage

Worthwhile: worth the time, money, or effort spent; of value or importance.

Example: Extra lighting would make a worthwhile contribution to road safety

Synonyms: valuable, useful, of use, of service, beneficial, rewarding

Vet: make a careful and critical examination of (something).

Example: Proposals for vetting large takeover bids

Synonyms: check, examine, scrutinize, investigate, inspect, look over

Manipulation: the action of manipulating something in a skilful manner.

Example: The format allows fast picture manipulation

Demonstrate: clearly show the existence or truth of something by giving proof or evidence.

Example: Their shameful silence demonstrates their ineptitude

Synonyms: reveal, bespeak, indicate, signify, signal, denote

Susceptible: likely or liable to be influenced or harmed by a particular thing.

Example: Patients with liver disease may be susceptible to infection

Synonyms: open to, receptive to, vulnerable to, an easy target for