NEW DELHI: With controversy around tampering of EVMs, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi has written a fresh letter to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking release of Rs 3100 crore for procurement of paper trail voting machines so these can be used in general elections 2019.
The is the 13th letter that has gone from Election Commission to Centre seeking release of funds for procurement of over 16 lakh machines needed to cover all polling stations during general elections.
The latest being sent on March 22 says that the process of procurement of EVMs with Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) cannot be delayed any longer given the prevailing environment.
“The Commission stands fully committed to deploy VVPATs along with EVMs in all future elections so that transparency of electoral process is enhanced, integrity of the voting preserved and the voters' confidence in the process is further strengthened," said Zaidi in his letter to Prasad.
The BSP, SP, Congress and AAP have targeted the government over not releasing funds for VVPATs and alleged that EVMs were tempered with during five state assembly elections. The opposition has demanded that EC should revert to paper ballot system as EVMS can be tempered.
The government has repeatedly said that it is still considering the implementation parts of manufacturing VVPATs as only two government companies manufacture it. According to official figures, in 2015, 67000 VVPATs were ordered but only 33000 have been received as there are only two PSUs which manufacture it.
Citing the Supreme Court order of having VVPATs, Zaidi said that the order for supply of machines needs to be placed immediately as it will take 30 months from the date of release of funds for Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd to manufacture machines before 2019 general elections.