Independent directors in public sector companies are political appointees. Since the autonomy of these directors can be questioned, especially in the two companies that manufacture electronic voting machines (EVMs), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), the integrity of the country's voting system has been severely compromised, argues Dr E A S Sarma, retired bureaucrat and social activist, in an interview with Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.