Page 95 - Leap of Faith Vol - 2

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

77