No going back to paper ballots

The Congress demand to return to the ballot paper has brought the focus back on electronic voting machines (EVMs). The demand to end the use of EVMs and to bring back the ballot paper is not new. Whenever a political party is defeated in an election, it has become routine for them to cast doubts on EVMs. After their electoral defeat in 2009, the BJP had called for bringing back paper ballots. After the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh polls last year, the demand heightened with many opposition parties again raising a hue and cry. According to the opponents of EVMs, the machines can be easily hacked.

They point out many countries including Japan, US and Germany have abandoned EVMs and use paper ballots. While it is true the western world relies on paper ballots, the conditions there are vastly different from the ones prevailing here. Firstly, our country is huge. There are over 80 crore registered voters in the country, according to the Election Commission in 2014. This number is only expected to rise. Counting such a huge population’s mandate is difficult and there is always the risk of counting errors. In the panchayat elections in Odisha some years ago, conducted using ballot papers, there were many reported cases of miscounting and many candidates won after a recount.

Secondly, the threat of rigging is always there. Booth capturing used to be the norm in many states until 20 years ago. But with the introduction of EVMs that is a thing of the past. Thirdly, EVMs are much more cost effective. It is said the government spent `3,426 crore in conducting the elections in 2014. This was 131 per cent more than the expenses incurred in 2009. If ballot papers were to be reintroduced, then the cost is expected to go up. There will be huge wastage of paper and logistically too, it is cumbersome. EVMs are reusable and easy to transport. To say that EVMs are absolutely tamper-proof may not be entirely accurate, but they have saved the country millions by reducing the amount of manpower needed.