Ballot boxes no more: EC to usher in era of EVMs (India)

Daily Pioneer ^ | Updated: 02:18 am | Rana Ajit

[Int]

Ballot boxes no more: EC to usher in era of EVMs

Rana Ajit/ New Delhi

Ballot boxes will no longer decide the fate of Union governments from the next general election. The Election Commission is all set to usher in the era of Electronic Voting Machines, which will be used all over India during the 2004 general elections for the Lok Sabha.

After successfully utilising EVMs during the various State Assembly elections, the Commission is slowly but steadily working towards realising its goal of going fully electronic during the next general elections.

To realise its goal of using EVMs all over India, the Commission needed nearly 10 lakh EVMs. Its prevailing stock of EVMs is all set to reach that mark by the year end.

"During the general elections for the Lok Sabha, nearly eight lakh polling booths are set up across the country. It means the Commission would require nearly 9.5 lakh to ten lakh evms - eight lakh to be deployed in the polling stations and an additional 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh to be used for contingencies like malfunctioning of the machines etc," said a senior EC official.

"The EC has already built up a stock of nearly 6.20 lakh EVMs, out of which nearly 5.25 lakh EVMs can be deployed in one go with 90,000 remaining at stand by. The Commission requires nearly 3.5 lakh more EVMs, for which it has already tied up with Bharat Electronics Limited," said the officials.

Acquiring an additional 3.5 lakh EVMs is the easier part of the EC's task to use EVMs all over India during the next general elections.

The Commission is also faced with the unviable task of training at least 15 lakh individuals in the use of EVMs. Nearly eight lakh people who would man an equal number of polling stations would require to be trained. To train individuals for operating the machines, the Commission has already chalked out a three-tier training programme. In the first phase, it would train returning officers, assistant returning officers, district elections staffs and trainers, who would in the second phase provide extensive training to personnel manning the polling booths, including the presiding officers.

In the third phase of training, it plans to train the public, activists of various political parties and media personnel, said the EC official.

The official said that the Commission fully realises the constructive role of the media in propagating the message.

Accordingly, the EC would be roping in the media in a major way in its training programme.

The Commission, however, will start its training programmes only a few months ahead of the actual polling day to ensure that the trained individuals do not forget what they have been taught.

[Int]

(lakh=100,000)