Centre moves on vote Totaliser machines

• In a big electoral reform move, government has decided to discontinue the practice of revealing booth-wise results within constituencies.
• According to the initiative, ‘totaliser machines’ will be installed for elections that will mask the voting pattern in individual booths.
• A cluster of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be connected to the totaliser which in turn will provide a consolidated result for each candidate in that group of EVMs.
• The Union government is working on the issue of introducing “totaliser machines” for mixing of votes from various booth for counting, as recommended by the Election Commission. The Supreme Court, while hearing a writ petition recently, had given the government eight weeks’ time to take a final decision.
• To look into the issue, a team of Union Ministers has been constituted. The Law Commission had also recommended the use these machines.
• The totaliser machines are analogous to the physical mixing of paper ballots from different booths in an earlier era. In that sense, they are also an extension of the principle of secret ballot.
• Prior to the introduction of EVMs, ballot papers could be mixed, wherever it was considered absolutely necessary under the Conduct of Election Rules in light of apprehended intimidation and victimisation of electors. However, EVMs do not permit this.

Analysis:

• The idea behind the move is to protect voters in a particular locality from pre-poll intimidation and post-poll reprisal by political parties and candidates.
• Given the challenges of conducting elections in a diverse country such as India, election processes need to be continuously refined.
• The introduction of EVMs had made a huge difference to the voting exercise and drastically reduced malpractices such as proxy voting. However, discrepancies continue to crop up from time to time, necessitating systemic upgrades. The totaliser machines are analogous to the physical mixing of paper ballots from different booths in an earlier era. In that sense, they are also an extension of the principle of secret ballot.
• And steps to enhance this principle are welcome in light of the fact that there have been several cases where people of a particular locality have been punished by those in power for not voting in a certain way. Development funds have been blocked and infrastructure projects have been diverted to teach opposition voters a lesson.
• In fact, even in the assembly elections in Bengal earlier this year there were reports of families in East Midnapore who were unable to vote due to the fear of post-poll reprisal. For the sake of greater democratic accountability, all political parties must drop their reservations and embrace the electoral reform.

By: Vishal