The Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), the replacement of the ballot box is mainstay in the electoral process. First conceived in 1977 in the Election Commission, the Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), Hyderabad was assigned the task to design and develop it. In 1979 a proto-type was developed, which was demonstrated by the Election Commission before the representatives of political parties on 6th August, 1980.
The Bharat Electronic Ltd. (BEL), Bangalore, another public sector undertaking, was co-opted along with ECIL to manufacture EVMs once a broad consensus was reached on its introduction. First time use of EVMs occurred in the general election in Kerala in May, 1982; however, the absence of a specific law prescribing its use led to the Supreme Court striking down that election. Subsequently, in 1989, the Parliament amended the Representation of the People Act, 1951 to create a provision for the use of EVMs in the elections (chapter 3). A general consensus on its introduction could be reached only in 1998 and these were used in 25 legislative assembly constituencies spread across three states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Its use was further expanded in 1999 to 45 parliamentary constituencies and later, in February 2000, to 45 assembly constituencies of the Haryana assembly elections. In the state assembly elections, held in May 2001,in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry and West Bengal, the EVMs were used in all the assembly constituencies.
Since then, for every state assembly elections, the Commission has used the EVMs. In 2004, in the general election to the Lok Sabha, the EVMs (more than one million) were used in all 543 parliamentary constituencies in the country.
0 Comments
Please give your comments....!!!