'Lack of trust' in EVMs? Karnataka survey says otherwise, most believe polls in India free and fair

It covered 5,100 respondents across 102 Assembly constituencies; 'majority of the respondents believe elections in India are conducted freely and fairly,' the survey found

Bengaluru: Most citizens believe elections in India are free and fair, while trust in the electronic voting machines (EVM) has increased, according to a Statewide survey whose findings have been published by the Congress government in Karnataka.

The survey, which covered 5,100 respondents across 102 Assembly constituencies in the administrative divisions of Bengaluru, Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Mysuru, was commissioned by Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukumar.

This was an endline survey of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of citizens after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Its report has been published by the Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority under the Department of Planning, Programme Monitoring and Statistics.

“...majority of respondents across all divisions believe that elections in India are conducted freely and fairly,” the survey found, with 84.55% citizens expressing agreement. “This belief was strongest in Kalaburagi division, where 84.67% agreed and 10.19% strongly agreed, followed by Belagavi division with 69.62% agreeing and 19.24% strongly agreeing,” the report stated.

The survey found 83.61% citizens who believed EVMs were trustworthy. “...a large majority of respondents across all divisions trust that EVMs provide accurate results... Trust was highest in Kalaburagi division, where 83.24% agreed and 11.24% strongly agreed, followed by Mysuru division with 70.67% agreeing and 17.92% strongly agreeing,” it said.

These findings may cause a setback to the Congress, whose top leader Rahul Gandhi is spearheading the ‘vote chori’ (vote theft) campaign against the Narendra Modi-led BJP.

The Congress government has decided to bring back ballot papers for local body polls, citing “lack of trust” in the EVMs.

In fact, the survey stated that more citizens trusted the EVMs, from 77.9% in 2023 to 83.61% now.

Of the 5,100 respondents, 95.75% said they voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. “Among 4,272 respondents who were included in the voter's list, a majority (95.44%) of respondents across all divisions confirmed that their names were correctly listed,” the report stated.

The survey was carried out by Mysuru-based GRAAM (Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement).

Inducements

There were 833 (16.3%) respondents who experienced inducements to influence their voting.

“...government scheme benefits were the most common inducement overall, accounting for 42.26% of all inducements, with the highest incidence in Kalaburagi (74.26%),” the survey found. “Job promises were the second most frequent inducement, making up 34.09%, especially high in Bengaluru (41.9%) and Mysuru (32.2%).”

The survey found “a significant proportion of respondents” believed the influence of money in elections is increasing, “with 44.9% agreeing and 4.65% strongly agreeing overall.”

Women’s voting autonomy

Of the 5,100 respondents, 56% were women. The survey found a mixed opinion on whether or not women had to consult male members or elders before voting. “Overall, 34.57% agreed and 3.14% strongly agreed with this view, while a larger proportion disagreed (37.86%) or strongly disagreed (13.78%)," it said.