EC to get ₹3,147-cr for purchase of 1.6 mn paper trail machines
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday accorded its approval for the proposal to purchase devices that leave a paper trail of votes cast on an electronic voting machine for use in future elections in the country.
The Election Commission (EC), which conducts elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies and will oversee the implementation of the verifiable paper audit trail machines (VVPAT), will get ₹3,147 crore for the purchase of these machines.
The money will be disbursed in two instalments — ₹1,600 in the current fiscal year and the rest in the next — to purchase 1.6 million machines that will be used in all polling stations for the 2019 general elections.
The EC said these machines will be manufactured by BEL and ECIL as per the design approved by it based on the recommendation of the technical experts committee on electronic voting machines (EVMs), which comprised eminent technical professors from IITs.
The clearance for the purchase was given during a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi
THE MONEY WILL BE DISBURSED IN TWO INSTALMENTS TO PURCHASE 1.6 MILLION MACHINES FOR ALL POLLING STATIONS
FOR 2019 ELECTIONS
after a brief discussion.
The Cabinet nod comes at a time when opposition parties are demanding that the EC return to the paper ballot and discontinue the use of EVMs, alleging the devices can be tampered with.
The EC had requested the government for immediate release of funds to procure VVPAT machines after opposition parties raised their pitch for abandoning EVMs for paper ballots.
In a terse letter to the law ministry, the election watchdog made an oblique reference to the scepticism over the use of EVMs by opposition parties. “It is felt that the process of procurement of VVPATs cannot be delayed any longer given the prevailing environment,” the commission said in its letter on March 22.
It had also reminded that the VVPAT machines have to be used for the 2019 general elections along with EVMs.