A Congress candidate in Odisha during India’s first General Election told voters that Mahatma Gandhi’s soul was in the ballot box, and it would “see the truth” of their voting decision. Today, judging from the popular reaction, it might seem a jinni resides in the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), switching votes from different parties to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

For instance, the other week, I was discussing the ferment in Maharashtra with Marathi historian Indrajit Sawant. Seven out of ten people in Maharashtra are opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sawant said, adding, “But you can never tell what results the EVM will produce.” Among all the proliferating biting remarks about the EVM that I have heard, nothing surpasses what a village Pradhan in Uttarakhand told me, “EVMs, not people, decide who wins.” When I sneered, he shot back, “Nobody would believe cricket matches were fixed until it was proved true.”