During the 2019 general elections, 30 crore voters were unable to exercise their voting rights. The reason cited by the Election Commission was that a major chunk of the migrant population failed to vote, which led to a differential voter turnout in various states and union territories. Aiming to increas voter participation, the poll body is now ready with a new prototype of a multi-constituency remote electronic voting machine (EVM), developed by a public sector undertaking, which can handle up to 72 constituencies from a single remote polling booth. The remote e-voting machine (RVM) will be a standalone device that doesn’t need connectivity to operate. The voters’ inability to vote due to internal migration is a vital issue that long needed to be addressed, and therefore the RVM will be used purely for migrant workers. There are no doubts over the intentions of the Election Commission, however — will this system be foolproof and robust, will it strengthen faith in electoral democracy? There are many questions about its implementation even before the machine is demonstrated before the recognised national and state political parties on January 16.
This technological electoral reform comes at a time when the Election Commission has failed to evoke trust amongst the voters and the political parties amidst the constant mudslinging over EVM tampering, manipulations and malfunctions. Despite the increasing demand for expanding Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) verification, the EC has always seemed reluctant, citing as reasons manpower problems and long delays in counting. It was only after 21 political parties filed petitions, that the Supreme Court increased the VVPAT verification to five random EVMs in each Assembly segment or constituency — which still looks ornamental and illusory in the words of senior Congress Leader Abhishekh Manu Singhvi. Rather than launching RVM which is seemingly another extension of the EVMs, wouldn’t it have been better on the part of the Election Commission to strengthen the VVPAT verification first? The chip and the software used in EVMs have always been a focus of mistrust as sceptics feel that they can be misprogrammed. This doubt has gained credence specially after the recent Gujarat Assembly election voting showed some anomalies. Parties like the Congress pointed out towards unusually high voting up to 6.5% at the fag end of the second phase on December 5. In fact some seats saw 11.5% voting in the last one hour — which is humanly impossible, because at an average 60 seconds per vote are a must.
Apart from this, time and again there have been instances of EVMs found outside the strongrooms in transit under suspicious circumstances. Political parties have raised a hue and cry, sometimes parties have gone to court to highlight these abnormalities but litigations take years and the electoral system becomes a casualty reducing the Election Commission’s image to that of a puppet in the hands of the Government. Undoubtedly India needs a remote voting machine, but how will EC restore faith and trust in the electoral system remains the bigger unanswered question.
For remote voting to become possible for migrant voters, a host of legal, statutory and administrative interventions are needed which will require wider consultation with all stakeholders. Experts point out that the biggest and most immediate challenge is to identify who a domestic migrant is, how to deal with the concept of territorial constituency, how to implement the model code of conduct in a remote location outside a state, number of booths to be set up, as well as who will be the polling personnel, how will the polling agents be deployed, and how will the voters be identified to avoid impersonation? Can all the Opposition parties come on board for RVMs when most of them have expressed their doubts on EVMs? For all these changes to be fructified, amendments in various laws have to be made, for example in Representation of People's Act 1950 & 51, Conduct of Election Rules 1961, Registration of Electors Rules 1960. Will this happen smoothly inside Parliament given the fact that the political parties have their doubts, is again something to be seen. The Election Commission seems to be rushing the pilot project so that it is ready for next year’s Assembly elections in nine states, but this looks like a lofty aim bordering on the perception that remote voting machines could be a political move to consolidate the migrant voter base. Remember that most of these 30 crore voters belong to the segment which sustain themselves on 5kg free ration from the government, who are beneficiaries of the central Government's welfare schemes. Can the Election Commission win the trust of all the stakeholders, the voters and the political players? Surely it can't be a hurried exercise to accomplish it for the 2023 Assembly elections or for that matter even the 2024 general elections. The jury could be out on that.
Neelu Vyas is a senior television anchor and consulting editor with Satya Hindi
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