evidence: The Electronic Voting Machine was pitched as an answer to a question of scale and security. The technology could simplify the electoral exercise that catered to a democracy of India’s size, and also eliminate voter tampering and manipulation. Over the decades, this solution has produced scepticism. Analysts and political leaders have questioned its transparency, reliability, and the value of a solution that seemingly reproduces similar problems. [...] The industrial design of the EVM came from two IIT Bombay professors, A.G. Rao and Ravi Poovaiah. They were at the time also helping Bharat Electronics Limited with an electronic voting machine the company used for conducting their union elections. Crude and bulky, the model got a facelift after Mr. Rao and Mr. Poovaiah helped with "aesthetics," as they recounted in a 2009 interview with The Times of India. "We went around the country to understand the nuances of an election from the perspective of a voter, the Election Commission as well as the parties in the race...That’s how it all began in the 1980s." The duo developed a prototype which accommodated 16 candidates; it was merely 15 inches long and opened upwards (in the final design, the EVMs opened sidewards). Their design was called "nothing but a plastic suitcase." [...] - The EVM works as an aggregator of votes in direct elections; press a button against the name of the chosen candidate, and the person with the maximum number of votes is declared winner.