On Saturday 17 October 2009, Krishnakant wrote: > On Sat, 2009-10-17 at 13:15 +0530, jtd wrote: > > On Saturday 17 October 2009, Krishnakant wrote: > > > We have also herd about the software in the woting machines being > > > flawd. whether that comment came from a pollitical loss of the party in > > > question is in doubt. > > > > In the case of the EVMs the "experts" claiming the flaw were unable to > > demonstrate the flaw in the prescence of all party representatives. > > > > Also from the info i have gathered, the system is a simple hardwired > > system with no method of reprogramming the microcontroller in circuit, > > i.e without opening the evm. This means that one would have to collude > > with officials and several party reps to remove and reaffix the onetime > > seals. > > The need for manual enable (which is also upper and lower time bound ) by > > the voting official limits the ability to stuff the ballot to make this > > exploit almost useless. > > But in the case of the issue I pointed about MHADA's lucky draw, the > problem was very much centered around software. > and we may never know the reality.
Very true. The very fact that it selected multiple times the same persons shows a very poor software. But that is not the real point. In the past when draws were held manually, it was a public fact that the process was rigged. Costed Rs.50,000/- to Rs.100000/-. This was between 87 to 90. Some of my friends paid and got themselves alloted flats at Borivali gorai. The ones in Ghatkopar Pantnagar were in great demand and the rig price was Rs.200000/- and required insider contacts in MHADA. My friends had the contacts but not enough cash on the table. So though we grew up in Pant Nagar, they opted for Gorai. One of them worked in MHADA and brokered a discount of Rs.5000/-. There was hughe rukus after the allotments as some riggers had failed to get allotments (actually two agents delayed payment - full two months before the draw afair - by a day and were not included in the rig) and many non riggers suspected the process anyway. Computers can never remove systemic and process vulnerabilities. Infact they only aide and make discovery more difficult. In the case of the election commission, automation was not merely to secure the process but also to bring in efficiency. Both processes have imo been reasonably addressed. In the case of MHADA the entire process is horribly flawed, including subsidised housing for a few at the expense of the taxpayer. The underlying problem of the Urban Land Ceiling Act and woeful infrastructure will ensure subversion of the system, in urban slums like Mumbai and Delhi. -- Rgds JTD _______________________________________________ network mailing list [email protected] http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in
