Hyderabad: The Telangana State Election Commission (SEC) has proposed some amendments to the rules for Municipal Corporation elections in the state.
The SEC is currently unable to use electronic voting machines extensively in local body elections, as they are of an old model, and the current rules impede their usage. The SEC has sent its proposed amendments to the state government, with a request to implement the changes at the earliest. Local body elections in TS are scheduled to be held in 2018, a year before the general elections in 2019.
According to sources, SEC has 17,000 EVMs at present, which they are using for the conduct of urban local body elections, and, to a limited extent, for the conduct of casual elections to panchayat raj bodies.
The SEC has two types of EVMs, one is with a detachable memory module (DMM) and a secured detachable memory module (SDMM), and the other is without.
EVMs without a DMM and a SDMM contain polling data stored in the control unit (CU). Hence, the unit needs to be kept in safe custody until completion of the statutory period, or for as long as the SEC directs, or until the disposal of the case, if a case has been filed in court.
As per the current rules, voting machines once used are to be retained intact for such a period as the SEC directs, and they may not be used for any subsequent elections without the approval of the SEC.
The statutory period for safe custody is generally for a year. EVMs without DMMs and SDMMs have to be kept in safe custody for the statutory period after the declaration of results, as the polled data is stored in the CU.
