Ahead of nine Assembly polls this year and Lok Sabha elections in 2024, the Union Cabinet is learnt to have approved a Law ministry proposal for funds to procure additional electronic voting machines for the Election Commission.
Sources aware of the development said more of the same type of electronic voting machines (EVMs), which are in use at present, will be procured from Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd, the two PSUs which had been manufacturing the machines since they were introduced.
The move has been worked upon considering the increase in the number of voters and polling stations. Plus, EVMs which have lived their span and those which are damaged need to be replaced. “Over Rs 1,300 crore will be provided to buy the additional machines,” added bureaucrats familiar with the matter.
One control unit and at least one ballot unit makes for one EVM.
Since 2004, the current EVMs have been used in four Lok Sabha and 139 Assembly elections. Since 2019, VVPAT (paper trail machine) slips from five randomly selected polling stations per Assembly constituency (or segment in cases of Lok Sabha seats) are matched with the EVM count for greater transparency.
No mismatch was found in the counting of paper trail machine slips and votes polled in EVMs during Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, and the seven by-polls held late last year.
The Legislative Department in the Ministry of Law is the nodal agency to deal with issues related to the poll panel, including EVM, election laws and related rules.
