Election Commission seeks funds for new EVMs

New Delhi: At a time when many Opposition parties are alleging tampering of electronic voting machines (EVMs), Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi has asked the government to expedite release of funds for procurement of paper trail machines before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In a letter to the law ministry, Mr Zaidi has mentioned the “prevailing environment” and said that the Supreme Court, while hearing a contempt petition, has directed the poll panel to submit the approximate time within which the entire system of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) can be introduced.

“The process of procurement of VVPATs cannot be delayed any longer given the prevailing environment... The commission stands fully committed to deploy VVPATs along with EVMs in all future elections so that transparency of electoral process is enhanced, integrity of the voting preserved and the voters’ confidence in the process is further strengthened,” the CEC has written.

Opposition parties have questioned the reliability of EVMs and have been pressing for the deployment of more VVPATs, which dispel doubts about votes cast using EVMs.

After their rout in the recent Assembly polls, the BSP, AAP and Congress had attacked the EC for allegedly using “tampered” EVMs. Sixteen parties, not including the AAP, had recently petitioned the EC to revert to paper ballot system for greater transparency.

In his letter Mr Zaidi recalled that he had already informed the government that if the order for supply of VVPAT was not placed by February 2017, “it would be difficult for manufacturers to supply the machines by September 2018” to meet the requirements of the next general elections.

The EC would need over 16 lakh paper trail machines to cover all polling stations in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The cost is estimated to be Rs 3,174 crore.

VVPAT machine dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted. A slip, like an acknowledgement receipt for the party voted for, drops in a box and a voter can see it for seven seconds, but they can’t take it home.

In his earlier, March 22 letter to the law minister, Mr Zaidi pointed out that the EC had informed the apex court that “required number of VVPATS can be manufactured from the date of release of funds in 30 months as per current capacity of the two manufacturers — Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd”.