EC has not purchased a single EVM in last 3 years: Govt to Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: The Election Commission, which plans to buy over 14 lakh electronic voting machines (EVMs) before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, has not purchased a single new machine in the last three fiscals.

Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that the poll panel has informed the government that "they have not procured any electronic voting machine during 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17".

On an earlier occasion, the Commission had said that it would replace 9,30,430 EVMs purchased before 2006 as the older machines were nearing their 15-year life cycle, besides procuring five lakh more systems.

The government has pegged the cost of the new machines at Rs 1,940 crore.