Indian
Express ( 19 Oct ) carries following news report :
Not more than 1,400
voters per polling station: Election Commission
The Election Commission has
decided that the number of voters per polling station should not exceed 1,400
as the paper roll attached to the paper trail machine cannot print more than
1,500 slips and attaching a new roll when polling is on is a cumbersome process.
In an
order issued to its officials in all states, the commission has said that since
the thermal paper roll used in the VVPAT (voter-verifiable paper audit trail)
machines can print approximately 1,500 slips, it has been decided that the
“maximum number of electors to be assigned to any polling station shall not
exceed 1,400”.
The poll panel explained that nearly 100 slips are printed during
commissioning of the paper trail machines and during mock poll. Since a little
over 1,400 slips can be printed per roll after that, the number of voters
should not exceed 1400.
It believes the process of replacing the paper roll can be
cumbersome when voting is on. All polling stations in Himachal Pradesh assembly
polls will have paper trail machines.
What will this mean in terms of additional expenditure ?
It is
reported that the Election Commission has asked for additional amount of Rs
3174 crores for purchase of VVPAT machines
Could this
decision lead to a huge increase in the Number of Polling Booths ?
During 2014 general
elections , we had :
# 814.5 million eligible voters
( an increase of 100 million over 2009
election )
Extrapolating , in 2019
election , we could end up with another addition of 100
million voters , taking the total to 914
million !
At no more than 1400
voters per booth , those additional 100 million voters could ,
Well require another 71,400 polling booths
But , since , many booths
may have far less than 1400 voters , we may end up
requiring 80,000 booths
In 2014 elections , we had
930,000 booths . Add another 80
,000 !
# 1.4 million EVM
For those additional polling booths , we would need another 80,000
EVM !
# 989 Counting
Booths
How many more
would we need in 2019 ?
# Rs 30,000 crores
( total combined election expenditure ( estimated )
( Govt + Parties +
Candidates )
It would be safe to assume
that this would go up to Rs 40,000 crores in 2019
# 11,00,000 Personnel
Expect this figure to swell to , at least 12 lakh persons
=================================
If we just
implement mobile app “ VotesApp “ , not
only we could save nearly all of the expenditure on part of the government ( -
and even enable the government to earn Rs 20,000
crores ) , we could manage the entire exercise in just ONE DAY and declare the results by 7 pm on the same day !
Cannot believe ? You will , after reading :
“Election Reforms “ Summarized [
18 Aug 2017 ]
19 Oct
2017
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
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