SHILLONG: Despite questions being raised from time to time on the efficiency of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), the State Government has ruled out the possibilities of procuring new EVMs equipped with the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and None of the Above (NOTA) options for the upcoming Autonomous District Council (ADCs) elections.
“Since 25 per cent of the EVMs are already available with the District Council Affairs department, we have no other option but to procure EVMs similar to those used in the last Assembly election. We would be procuring only about 75 per cent of the total EVMs,” a senior government official said on Wednesday.
“The Cabinet is likely to fix the date of the elections within this month,” the government official said, adding that the remaining EVMs would be procured once the election dates are approved.
According to official sources, an amount of Rs 1.10 crore each has been earmarked for the three Autonomous District Councils in the State through the 13th Finance Commission to procure the EVMs.
Replying to a query, the official informed that in the past the State Government used to provide the EVMs to the District Councils on loan to conduct the elections.
“The District Council Affairs department has now decided to purchase its own EVMs so that the Councils can use the same in every election,” he added.
It may be reminded that in the last Assembly election in February, several cases of malfunctioning of EVMs were reported from across the State. In Madanriting ‘G’ polling station under Nongkrem Assembly constituency, some votes could not be counted since one of the EVMs was defective.
