The Election Commission wants to purchase nearly 14 lakh new electronic voting machines worth Rs 5511.48 crore against the backdrop of over nine lakh such machines in use nearing end of their 15-year life.
The Law Ministry has given its "in principle" approval to buy the new EVMs.
In a proposal sent to the Law Ministry, the Commission said 9,30,430 EVMs in use today would become "outdated" between 2015-16 and 2019-20.
It has moved a proposal to buy 13,95,648 new balloting units and 9,30,432 control units at an estimated cost of Rs 5511.48 crore during financial years 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
An EVM consists of a control unit and a balloting unit connected by a five-meter cable.
The control unit is with the presiding officer and the balloting unit is placed inside the voting compartment to allow voters cast their vote by pressing the blue button alongside the name of the candidate of their choice.
"We have received the proposal. It has been given in principle approval by the Law Ministry. Now, a committee on non plan expenditure headed by Secretary Expenditure in the Finance Ministry will approve the proposal before the Law Ministry takes it to the Union Cabinet for final approval," said a senior Law Ministry functionary.
The Legislative Department in the Law Ministry is the nodal unit for EC.
A meeting of the committee was scheduled for last week but it was postponed.
The official said while it is a fact that EVMs are
getting old and need to be replaced, the Law Ministry and the EC will have to convince the committee about the per unit cost as well as the number of units required.
In 1989-90, one control unit, one balloting unit and one alkaline battery used to cost Rs 5,500. Today the cost is pegged at Rs 20,000 (approximate), an EC official said.
The EVMs were devised and designed by the Election Commission in collaboration with two Public Sector undertakings -- Bharat Electronics Ltd, Bangalore and Electronic Corporation of India Ltd, Hyderabad after a series of meetings, test-checking of the prototypes and extensive field trials. The EVMs are now manufactured by the two undertakings.
The EVMs were first used in an assembly bypoll in May, 1982 but the absence of a specific law prescribing its use led to the Supreme Court striking it down.
The Representation of the People Act, 1951 was amended by Parliament in 1989 to provide for the use of EVMs. But a general consensus on introducing it could be reached only in 1998.
Since then, the EVMs are in use -- initially in assembly polls and then in Lok Sabha elections.
EVMs can cater to a maximum of 64 candidates. There is provision for 16 candidates in a balloting unit. If the total number of candidates exceeds 16, a second balloting unit can be linked parallel to the first balloting unit. Similarly, if the total number of candidates exceeds 32, a third balloting unit can be attached and if the total number of candidates exceeds 48, a fourth balloting unit can be attached to cater to a maximum of 64 candidates.
In case the number of contesting candidates goes beyond 64 in any constituency, EVMs cannot be used and the conventional method of voting by means of ballot box and ballot paper will have to be adopted, the EC website says.
