Tech To Link EVMs, Hide Booth-Wise Voting Ready But...: Poll Body Chief

A technology to link a number of EVMs and hide booth-wise voting patterns is ready with the Election Commission of India but the time to implement the idea has not come yet, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Saturday.

During a press conference to announce the general elections, Mr Kumar also mentioned that the poll panel is working on remote voting technology such as blockchain.

The totaliser is a technology to link a number of polling machines and combine the results.

"But, here, people do not have faith in the result of one machine," Mr Kumar said.

"Let the political system mature itself, the need is to introduce the totaliser. We are ready, the technology is ready but one has to work in the entire landscape. Let that be matured further," he said.

Votes in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are counted according to polling stations, leading to situations in which voting patterns in various localities or pockets become known.

To address the issue, government undertakings Electronics Corporation of India Ltd and Bharat Electronics Ltd -- the manufacturers of EVMs -- developed the totaliser technology, which can be used for taking out the results in a group of 14 EVMs without revealing the votes in individual machines.

The device was manufactured more than a decade ago but is yet to be used, pending approval from the government.

The poll panel has also repeatedly rejected the idea that EVMs should be manufactured by other companies as well, saying public faith is involved and it should be only done by the two PSUs.

Before the introduction of EVMs, ballot papers were often mixed in a drum to prevent intimidation of voters by disclosure of voting patterns.

Mr Kumar said the poll panel has also prepared a prototype to enable migrant workers to vote remotely and is working on blockchain technology to enable remote voting in the future.

"We prepared the machines to get votes from migrant workers -- remote voting -- the prototype is ready. The machine can take 72 assembly segments together, that's a step towards remote voting. We are also ready at some stage for remote voting through blockchain. But let such things take time to adjust. Every idea has its time, perhaps time for this idea has not come," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)