CHENNAI: For the first time in the State, the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission will be introducing specially designed electronic voting machines (EVMs) to accommodate four-vote system in this year’s local body elections on pilot basis.
Local body elections are conducted once in five years to elect representatives to the urban (Corporation, Municipality and Town Panchayat) and rural local bodies (village panchayat, panchayat union and district panchayat). Until 2011, paper ballot systems were used for these elections. EVMs were introduced for the first time to elect ward councillors of all 12 city Municipal Corporations.
Taking this step forward, the State Election Commission will be introducing EVMs in the rural body elections expected to take place in October.
Unlike Corporation elections, rural local body elections involve casting of four votes to elect ward members of village panchayat, panchayat union and district panchayat and village panchayat president. These EVMs are specially designed by the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bangalore to serve the purpose.
According to Tamil Nadu Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department sources, a single unit will have names of candidate (along with party names and symbols) running for all these four posts and voters can cast their vote by pressing one button at a time.
“This project will be implemented on a pilot basis in Melpuram panchayat union in Kanniyakumari district during the October 2016 local body elections,” Kanyakumari Collector Sajjan Singh R Chavan told Express.
So far, 94 control units and 392 ballot units have been purchased by the Tamil Nadu government at an overall cost of `40 lakh and an inspection was carried out recently (June 22) by officials to evaluate their effectiveness.
Sources added that this would cut down paper printing, storage and transportation cost to a great extent and more accurate results can be declared (as illegal votes get eliminated) within hours against conventional methods which consume more time.
However, the rural urban bodies’ representatives have expressed concern over introduction of these EVMs.
“Unlike Assembly polls, rural local body elections see more independent candidates and there are posts where only candidates from parties contest. So using a single EVM to cast four votes might led to confusion among electors,” said P Murugan, Eraviputhoor village panchayat president, Kanniyakumari.