UPSC 2018 GS-II · 10 marks · 150 words
In the light of recent controversy regarding the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), what are the challenges before the Election Commission of India to ensure the trustworthiness of elections in India?
What “Examine” demands
investigate the issue closely — how it arose, how it works, what it achieves and where it falls short — looking at both sides.
The characteristic failure: description of what the thing is, with no probing of how well it works.
What a top answer must contain
These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.
- Technical assurance: standalone non-networked machines, one-time-programmable chips, VVPAT introduced 2013 and universal by 2019
- SC directions on VVPAT counting: five randomly selected booths per assembly segment (2019); the 2024 challenge rejecting full count
- Non-technical challenges: money power, paid news, MCC enforcement, electoral rolls, deepfakes and social-media manipulation
- Institutional credibility: appointment process of Election Commissioners (2023 Act after the Anoop Baranwal judgment)
- Confidence-building measures: hackathons, open demonstrations, first-level checking with party agents present
The band thresholds and the pre-scored sample answers behind this standard stay private — they are the calibration your copy is placed against.
Now write it, and find out what you actually scored
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