KATHMANDU, JUNE 30
The Election Commission today wrote to the government seeking electronic voting machines for the upcoming parliamentary and provincial elections.
The EC issued a press release saying it had asked the government to provide EVM by mid-August for the upcoming polls. The poll panel asked the government to provide EVM manufactured in foreign countries if they are not available in the domestic market as recommended by a panel formed to study the use of EVM and their management.
The poll panel had even formed a committee of experts to use EVM in the recently held local polls, but could not use them due to lack of time. A committee formed under a joint secretary of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology had suggested that EVM should be used after analysing aspects such as quality of machines, addressing concerns that might be raised about the use of EVM and the experience of other countries that have successfully used EVM in elections.
The committee had recommended to form another technical committee to authenticate EVM made in Nepal.
EC Spokesperson Shaligram Sharma Paudel told THT that the EC wrote to the government for the use of EVM considering large number of invalid votes, cumbersome and expensive process of printing and transporting ballot papers, and overly long vote counting process. The EC said in its release that it had told the government to provide EVM made outside Nepal by mid-July if those manufactured in Nepal could not be used for any reason. "We have written to the government telling it to decide on the use of EVM," Paudel said, adding that the government could use EVM in all parts of the country or only in a few districts and urban centres as it deems fit.
The EC had successfully used EVM in six election constituencies in the first Constituent Assembly polls in 2008.
In the second CA election held in 2013, the EC used EVM in five constituencies, including Bardiya, Baglung, Kathmandu, and Kailali.
EC Commissioner Ishwari Paudel said if the government provided EVMs by mid-August, the poll panel could hold elections through EVM in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur, but not in other parts of the country.
Paudel said all voters should be trained to cast their votes on EVM. "Around 90 political parties have registered with the EC and we will have to put the election symbol of all those parties in the EVM. That will take time," Paudel said.
Asked how much the government will have to spend on EVM, Paudel said that would depend on EVM specifications and the country from which they would be imported. "If the government buys EVM made in India, their price may differ from the ones bought from Israel or the USA," he added.
He said using EVM in Kathmandu valley alone would be a major achievement as vote counting in the recently held local polls took 15-16 days.
Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya said each polling centre would need at least four EVM. "We have talked to the government about the use of EVM. The government says that it may be difficult to use EVM across the country, but the government also wants to use them at least in some parts," Thapaliya said.
He said if the EC could use EVM at least in Kathmandu valley that would send a positive message. He said the EC did not have resources to procure EVM, but if the government wanted to use them in the upcoming elections, it could either seek donors' help or procure them through government-to-government contracts which will fast track the procurement process.
A version of this article appears in the print on July 1, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
