Page 95 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2
P. 95

Democracy Marches Ahead    Chapter 3





            The two important electoral breakthroughs in the   In February 1983, Elec on Commission had only 196 EVMs
            1980s were -                                     manufactured  by  Bharat  Electronics  Limited.  The
                                                             Commission was already contempla ng a rollout of EVMs
            a) introduc on of the Electronic Vo ng Machine; and
                                                             across the country at a cost es mated between INR 150 to
            b) lowering the threshold age of vo ng from 21 to 18 years.   165 crore. However, soon an adverse legal verdict put paid
                                                             to those plans.   On March 5, 1984 the Hon'ble Supreme
            Electronic Vo ng Machine (EVM) was first used at Parur
                                                             Court  set  aside  the  elec on  of  Sivan  Pillai  from  Parur
            Cons tuency  during  the  mid-term  assembly  polls  in
                                                             Cons tuency on the ground that use of the EVM violated
            Kerala in May, 1982. A total of 50 EVMs were used in that
                                                             the provisions of Representa on of the People Act, 1951
            elec on. Buoyed by the success of the experiment, the
                                                             and  Rules  prescribed  therein.  The  apex  court  held  that
            EVMs were employed alongside ballot boxes in assembly   EVMs could not be introduced in absence of an enabling
            polls in Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tripura,   legisla on. It was not un l another five years that Sec on
            Arunachal Pradesh and Bihar during 1982-83. Elec on   61A was added to Representa on of the People Act, 1951.
            Commission of India's Annual Reports (a new but short   The  amendment  authorising  the  use  of  the  EVMs  was
            lived feature) for the years 1983 and 1984 inform how   no fied w.e.f. March 15, 1989. However, it took more than
            different  poli cal  par es  preferred  the  EVMs  over   a decade to get all stakeholders on board thus paving the
            conven onal ballots.                             way for the deployment of EVMs.






























            The journey of democracy from ballot boxes to EVMs




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