CHENNAI: With two more weeks to go for polls to local bodies in the State, there is a demand from those working in the area of local self-government for using electronic voting machines (EVMs).

The rules governing the elections to the urban local bodies in the State do provide for the use of EVMs, but, in respect of the rural local bodies, there is no such provision. The State Election Commission, which conducts the polls for the local bodies, has decided that only ballot papers will be used.

A.K. Venkat Subramanian, spokesperson of the Citizens' Alliance for Good Governance, a conglomerate of seven non-government organisations, advocates the use of EVMs as there will be no "doctoring of results." He recalls that in previous polls, there was unprecedented violence in Chennai at the time of counting of votes.

EVMs will enable faster voting and their use may result in higher turnout, Mr. Venkat Subramanian, a former civil servant, says. They may help overcome the problem of low turnout in local bodies polls.

Financial implication

An official of the State Elections department (which oversees the polls to the Lok Sabha constituencies and the Assembly), endorsing the idea, says the machines facilitate expeditious counting. But the cost of procuring EVMs has to be borne in mind.

The conference of State Election Commissioners, which met in Chennai last year, had supported the use of EVMs. It wanted the Central Election Commission to relax rules for loaning EVMs to the State Election Commissions (SECs). As a pre-requisite to the lending arrangements, the EC wanted the SECs to build up a reserve of 10 per cent of the number of EVMs required by them.

Genuine difficulties

But, there are genuine difficulties in using EVMs for the local bodies' elections this time, says a senior official in the State Election Commission.

Unlike in the Assembly elections, the number of polling stations will be much more. In the May 2006 Assembly polls, about 52,000 polling stations were set up. For the local bodies elections, the number will be about 80,500, of which around 55,500 will be in rural areas and the rest in urban areas.

Secondly, the EVMs that were used in the Assembly elections cannot be used again for the next six months because some of them might be required in the event of litigation regarding results to the Assembly elections. Thirdly, the constraint of time has come in the way of implementing the idea, the official says. A new team of officers from the level of the Election Commissioner to down below have assumed charge with the change of regime at Fort St. George.

On the cost factor, the official says about Rs. 100 crore may be required for obtaining the EVMs.

Mr. Venkat Subramanian says if inadequate number of machines is the major factor against their use in the present elections, they can be used at least in the elections to six municipal corporations. [An official estimate is that the corporation areas account for 6,925 polling stations, of which Chennai has 3,295].

But, he does not agree with the "time constraint" argument. Everyone knew when the local bodies polls were due. Adequate arrangements could have been made in advance.

But all agree that there has to be political determination if the use of EVMs is to become a reality.

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