Present article also appears as a section in below main essay:
Basic Principles of Genuine Elections and the Fatal Threat of EVM
Reading estimate for above article: 37 minutes minutes. (8210 words + 4 min video)
Yes the situation is extremely alarming, near catastrophic. EVMs started off from simple unsolvable issue of lack of transparency, but because of that they pulverized all accountability, freeness & fairness of genuine elections. When EVMs murdered election integrity this way, people's votes no longer mattered to politicians and hence people's will and goodwill no longer mattered to the 'elected' government. When people's will and goodwill stopped mattering to the government, its democratic checks and balances ceased to exist. Thus democracy itself died off. With democracy dead, people stopped being the masters of their government. The despots pretending to be 'democratically elected' became free to follow the orders of their real masters who brought them to power by rigging EVMs, and who could keep bringing them to power or make them fall irrespective of will of the people. And these real masters seem pretty malicious, making their 'elected dictators' to ruin economies, trample on human rights, change Constitutions, and start wars, in India as well as in many other nations worldwide.
But if democracy is dead, how do we the people solve this huge huge problem of EVMs that killed democracy? Well we still have one lifeline. The EVM rigged dictators and their puppet masters are still pretending that democracy exists. Seize this lifeline! Democracy is like the fairy Tinkerbell. If you believe in fairies, Tinkerbell comes back from the dead and grows strong. So believe in democracy and live up democracy to make democracy come alive!
So how do we live up democracy? Democracy is an ongoing non-violent civil war of ideas. Freedom of expression (FoE) is the most powerful weapon of this war. The best ammo we can fire from this weapon is:
In parallel to people's demand, the discourse on free and fair elections through transparency and accountability will also reach many good lawyers and provide them the firepower to build case(s) to get EVMs banned through judiciary. There have been some cases againt EVMs in our decade of EVM use. But I think they were mostly orchestrated and hence didn't really lead to banning of EVMs. Building case for banning of EVMs isn't trivial. Needs a well-rounded expertise of electronics, principles of election integritry, understanding of EVMs as well as Law & Constitution. I have some background in electronics and since few months I am gaining some understanding of principles of election integrity and perils of EVMs. Good laywers have expetise in Law & Constitution and also perhaps an understanding of principles of genuine elections. Together we can defeat EVMs and bring democracy back to life in India! And of course perhaps help other countries too.
But all of that, whether democractic activism by citizens, or judicial activism by lawyers, begins with correct knowledge and understanding. To defeat the devil, we must know the devil. We shall get properly introduced to the devil in the next essay where we Say Hello to my little friend...the EVM!
Yes, the classic reference to Scarface climax. That's exactly how devastating EVM is to democracy!
But if democracy is dead, how do we the people solve this huge huge problem of EVMs that killed democracy? Well we still have one lifeline. The EVM rigged dictators and their puppet masters are still pretending that democracy exists. Seize this lifeline! Democracy is like the fairy Tinkerbell. If you believe in fairies, Tinkerbell comes back from the dead and grows strong. So believe in democracy and live up democracy to make democracy come alive!
So how do we live up democracy? Democracy is an ongoing non-violent civil war of ideas. Freedom of expression (FoE) is the most powerful weapon of this war. The best ammo we can fire from this weapon is:
- Questioning the shady actions of govt authorities (who are nothing but public servants, your servants) which go against public interest
- Challenging their actions with correct knowledge
- Making correct and well thought demands in people's interest and not letting authorities off the hook till the people's interest is really achieved.
In parallel to people's demand, the discourse on free and fair elections through transparency and accountability will also reach many good lawyers and provide them the firepower to build case(s) to get EVMs banned through judiciary. There have been some cases againt EVMs in our decade of EVM use. But I think they were mostly orchestrated and hence didn't really lead to banning of EVMs. Building case for banning of EVMs isn't trivial. Needs a well-rounded expertise of electronics, principles of election integritry, understanding of EVMs as well as Law & Constitution. I have some background in electronics and since few months I am gaining some understanding of principles of election integrity and perils of EVMs. Good laywers have expetise in Law & Constitution and also perhaps an understanding of principles of genuine elections. Together we can defeat EVMs and bring democracy back to life in India! And of course perhaps help other countries too.
But all of that, whether democractic activism by citizens, or judicial activism by lawyers, begins with correct knowledge and understanding. To defeat the devil, we must know the devil. We shall get properly introduced to the devil in the next essay where we Say Hello to my little friend...the EVM!
Yes, the classic reference to Scarface climax. That's exactly how devastating EVM is to democracy!