New Delhi: The Modi government has rejected the Election Commission’s request for introduction of Totaliser voting machines, which would add an extra layer of security to the voting process.
According to a report in NDTV, Totaliser voting machines make it difficult to learn how an area voted by scrambling data from polling booths, but a ministerial team headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh nixed the move to introduce them.
The reason given for the rejection is that the machines will hamper polling booth management.
Before Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) were introduced, ballot papers used to be jumbled up so that it was not possible for political parties to detect voting patterns, said the report.
This convenience is not afforded by EVMs. It is now easy to find out voting patterns in different areas. Some officials have claimed that this leads to politicians ignoring development of areas which did not vote for them.
The Election Commission has been wanting to introduce Totaliser machines for a decade now, but successive governments have rejected it, said the report.
The totaliser helps connect all EVMs through a cable so votes from a constituency are registered and counted together.
The Election Commission had earlier discussed introducing the Totaliser with all national parties and most accepted it. But with the government’s refusal, the initiative is once more on the backburner.
