New Delhi   

6,000 EVMs being brought from Mumbai

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 27. With the Capital facing a massive shortage of electronic voting machines following the presence of more than 16 candidates in the fray in the Outer Delhi and East Delhi parliamentary constituencies, the Election Commission has made arrangements for 6,000 more EVMs.

These EVMs, the Chief Electoral Officer for Delhi, Arun Goyal, today said were being procured from Mumbai. Maharashtra has a large number of spare EVMs as they had prepared for simultaneous Assembly elections along with the Lok Sabha polls.

These EVMs are manufactured by the Electronic Corporation of India Limited, unlike the ones being used in Delhi which are manufactured by the Bharat Electronics Limited. Mr. Goyal said these machines would be used only in East Delhi and the EVMs for East Delhi would now be shifted to other constituencies.

The EVMs are being brought to the Capital by rail and a team of officials would leave the city for Mumbai on Wednesday to ensure that these machines land in Delhi well in time. The need for such a large number of EVMs has arisen after more than 16 candidates were left in the race for these two seats. While there are 28 candidates in the race for the Outer Delhi seat, 26 are in East Delhi for the May 10 Lok Sabha elections. Only 16 candidates can be accommodated in an EVM and as such two EVMs would be used at each polling booths of these seats, he said.

Of the 9,055 working polling booths in the Capital, Outer Delhi has 3,258 polling stations and East Delhi has 2,563. With the need of two EVMs at these 5,821booths, besides another 150 for the Moti Nagar Assembly by-election, the total number of EVMs to be used this time has increased from 12,500 to 18,500. Of these about 2,000 would be kept in reserve, officials said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi

News: Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |

Stories in this Section

• `Accessible' Maken wakes up Lajpat Nagar
• NDA Govt. on its way out: Congress
• Now, `feel good' engulfs Congress
• Win-win man not afraid of losing
• Delhi wastes 45 per cent drinking water
• No power, no vote: Badarpur resettlers
• 6,000 EVMs being brought from Mumbai
• Weapon owners to get reminders on renewal
• Three more cops held for custodial death
• Delhi Police official chargesheeted by CBI
• Doctor's post-mortem today
• Police to seek NBW against Sachdeva
• 2 held for selling fake certificates
• India does not see immediate threat to Arafat
• CBI on mission to track payments in Quattrocchi's account
• Mass leave by Judges: notice to Registrar
• CVC can receive complaints from whistle-blowers, Court told
• In-car air pollution a health risk
• Around The City
• Briefly
• In The Capital Today

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu