Demo of remote voting system: Eight national and 57 regional parties understand RVM, 16 parties including Congress oppose

Election commission says multi-constituency remote EVM can handle 72 constituencies from one remote polling booth- file photo

The Election Commission on Monday showed the prototype of Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM) to the representatives of political parties. The commission had called eight recognized national parties and 57 regional parties for the demonstration of this system made voters living away from their homes. However, several opposition parties, including the Congress, have opposed the efforts to introduce the RVM system.

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In the RVM Demonstration, EC explained the operation and technology of the system.

During the demonstration of remote EVM, members of the Technical Expert Committee of the Election Commission were also present. The Commission says that with the help of Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM), voters living away from their home in any other city or state will be able to vote in the Assembly/Lok Sabha elections. That means they will not have to come to their home town to vote.

16 parties including Congress opposed RVM
The Congress called an all-party meeting on Sunday to discuss the Remote Voting Machine (RVM) proposal. 16 parties including JDU, Shiv Sena Uddhav faction, National Conference, CPI(M), JMM, RJD, PDP, VCK, RUML, NCP and SP participated in this meeting chaired by Digvijay Singh. Everyone opposed the RVM proposal.

The Election Commission had said that the Multi Constituency Remote EVM can handle 72 constituencies from a single remote polling booth. Here, Digvijay said, ‘RVM system is still very incomplete. There are huge political problems in this. The definition and number of migrant workers is also not clear. In such a situation, we do not support RVM.

The commission also wrote a letter to the parties asking for suggestions on RVM
The Election Commission had also issued a note on the technology, inviting parties to demo the prototype. Suggestions were invited from the parties till the end of January on issues such as necessary changes in the law to allow the use of RVM. The parties were asked to express their opinion on this proposal by writing a letter.

RVM based on existing EVM, will not connect to internet
Election Commission officials termed it a technical challenge to count the votes cast at far-flung booths and send the returning officers to their booths in other states. The commission says that RVM will be developed as a robust, failproof and effective stand-alone system. It will be based on the existing Electronic Voting Machine, but will not be connected to the Internet.

Understand in question and answer what is Remote Voting i.e. RVM…

1. For whom the commission has made this arrangement? Will you be able to vote from wherever you are?
People working in other states, migrant laborers will be able to use RVM. This will not mean that they will be able to vote sitting at home. To take advantage of this facility of the Commission, one has to reach the remote voting spot on the day of voting. This does not mean voting from home. According to estimates, there are 45 crore people in the country who have left their homes and cities and are living in other states. Its centralized data does not exist.

2. How many constituencies can be covered by one RVM booth?
Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said that research was done on the attitude of youth and urban voters not to vote. RVM will be a revolutionary change to increase their participation in voting. Multi Constituency Remote EVM can handle 72 constituencies from one remote polling booth.

3. Will the Election Commission implement it immediately?
No, views of political parties have also been sought on legal, administrative and technical challenges before its implementation. According to a statement, the poll panel has only issued a concept note on remote voting.

4. Why is the focus of the Election Commission on RVM?
The commission noted that the voter turnout in the 2019 general election was 67.4%. More than 30 crore voters did not exercise their franchise. This is what is bothering me. The commission said, “Voters are not able to register and vote due to various reasons when they move to a new place. The inability of domestic migrants to vote was a matter of concern. Hence, the RVM plan was formulated.”

5. So when will this RVM system be implemented? Is it before elections in 9 states next year?
The Commission has called all political parties on 16 January. He will show this RVM system to political parties. After this he will ask for suggestions. After this, it will proceed on the process of implementation. Apart from Jammu and Kashmir, assembly elections are to be held in 9 states of the country in 2023.

Lok Sabha elections will also be held in 2024. The states where elections are held include Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana and Rajasthan. The implementation of the RVM system depends on the opinion of the demos, political parties and people involved in the election process.