The Union government is working overtime to take a final decision on the issue of introducing “totaliser machines” for mixing of votes from various booth for counting, as recommended by the Election Commission. The Supreme Court, while hearing a writ petition on August 5, had given the government eight weeks’ time to take a final decision.
A team of Union Ministers has been constituted on the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliberate on the Election Commission’s proposal in November 2008, which was seconded by the Law Commission. Before the introduction of electronic voting machines, as provided under Rule 59A of the Conduct of Election Rules, counting of votes used to take place by mixing of ballot papers.
The machine is expected to prevent disclosure of voting patterns across polling stations during counting, which will allay the fears of voters against any pre-poll intimidation or post-poll victimisation by any candidate.
The ministerial team, comprising Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Manohar Parrikar, Nitin Gadkari and Ravi Shankar Prasad, will soon meet and give its recommendations
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In view of the poll panel’s proposal, the Standing Committee in 2009 sought a demonstration of the machine. However, it could not be done for various reasons. The proposal was then referred to the Law Commission in January 2013. In its March 2015 report, the commission backed the use of the machine.
After a demonstration of the machine, three of the six national parties (Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party) supported its use. While the Bharatiya Janata Party said booth-wise performance was important for booth management, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) agreed in principle to its use with a rider that there is a need to be careful about the machine’s foolproof functioning and it should be introduced in phases
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