EC move to use M3 EVMs raises hackles of activists

Hyderabad: Even as the Election Commission of India is gearing up to conduct Nizamabad Lok Sabha election using M3 or third-generation EVMs, activists involved in election reforms are expressing unhappiness over the fresh decision of the constitutional body.

Because of the presence of 185 candidates in the electoral fray in Nizamabad, the talk was about using ballot paper for conducting the election as the M2 EVMs, that are available with Telangana election authorities, can accommodate a maximum of 64 candidates plus one NOTA button.

Telangana CEO Dr Rajat Kumar earlier said that the M3 EVMs that they used in Assembly elections in some segments could not be reused for Nizamabad Lok Sabha election due to legal issues that arose after some candidates approached court.

Due to lack of third generation EVMs, ballot paper was one of the options, he stressed. However, ECI has come to the rescue of Telangana election authorities by giving directions to ECIL to immediately supply M3 EVMs including BUs, CUs and VVPATs to facilitate electronic voting in Nizamabad.

This fresh development, however, has not gone down well with the election experts. According to VV Rao of Election Watch, there are several disadvantages of going for EVMs instead of ballot paper method in case the number of candidates is on the higher side.

Each ballot unit can accommodate names of 16 candidates and since Nizamabad has 185 candidates in the fray, 12 BUs have to be interlinked and they have to be connected to one CU (Control Unit) and one VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail). This means in each polling booth, 12 BUs, one CU and VVPAT each have to be accommodated, which is a big challenge.

VV Rao said polling booths have space constraints in first place and it would be an uphill task to arrange so many units in a makeshift voting cabin.

"Secrecy of vote is of paramount importance and I doubt how authorities can ensure this by placing so many units in an area, covered just by cardboards.

Also, what if a technical issue arises? Will the whole 12 units in that particular booth be changed and whether ECI has enough machinery and manpower to transport them in nick of time to ensure polling process does not get derailed in that place," he said.

This is the first time so many M3 EVMs are being used for an election in the State and VV Rao said that neither political parties nor election activists were told about the need for mock polling using the M3 made machines.

The ballot paper could have been the best option as ECI just has to get the papers printed and take care of things like proper folding of it, boxes to put the voted papers etc.