EC To Demonstrate Remote Electronic Voting Machines – Everything You Should Know

The Election Commission of India has said that RVMs could improve polling numbers in states with low voter turnout.

The Election Commission of India created the prototype Remote Electronic Voting Machine in a tie-up with BEL and ECIL.

(Photo: Deeksha Malhotra/The Quint)

The Election Commission of India (ECI) floated a prototype of a Remote Electronic Voting Machine, to make voting easier for domestic migrants, on Thursday, 29 December.

The commission will present a demonstration at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on 16 January 2023, and hold a discussion with representatives from all the national parties on the challenges and implementation of Remote Electronic Voting Machines for domestic migrants.

Meanwhile, the ECI has also written to all of India's national parties seeking their feedback and comments on the implementation of RVMs and the challenges they pose.

Here's everything you need to know about Remote Voting Machines.

What Are Remote Electronic Voting Machines?

As the name suggests, a Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM) would allow domestic migrants to electronically cast a vote for elections in their home state from the state that they currently reside in.

Physically, an RVM is made up of the following components:

• RCU – Remote Control Unit

• RBU – Remote Ballot Unit

• RVVPAT – Remote Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail

• CCR – Constituency Card Reader

• PDCU – Public Display Control Unit

• RSLU – Remote Symbol Loading Unit

All of these parts are proposed to work together to allow a voter to cast their vote remotely.

Why Do We Need RVMs?

According to the Centre's data, voter turnout from 1951 to 2019 has steadily increased from 45.67 percent to 67.40 percent, respectively.

However, in the EC's own words, this means, "One third of the voters do not vote and one out of every three voters do not participate in the direct electoral process of exercising their vote."

An important reason for this, the EC adds, is internal voter migration, that is people moving from the state they were born in to another state. This intra-state migration, it says, is responsible for low voter turnout in many states.

To resolve this, the EC adds, it has worked in tandem with the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to create a prototype RVM.

How Will RVMs Work? 

This is how the RVM system is proposed to work:

• If State A, say Karnataka, announces elections, then a voter whose home constituency is Karnataka can cast their vote from special remote voting booths set up in State B, say Himachal Pradesh.

• After verifying the voter's identity, the Presiding Officer at the booth will scan their Constituency card.

• Once this is done, their constituency will appear on a Public Display Unit i.e., a big screen.

• The remote voter then selects their candidate and their vote is recorded along with the constituency number, state code, and candidate number.

• In the case of remote voting, the VVPAT slip also shows the state code and constituency code, apart from the name, symbol, and serial number of the candidate.

• According to the EC, remote polling booths will cater to multiple constituencies in the voter's home state, and will work dynamically.

• In fact, in the early phases, RVMs are likely to be set up to try voting remotely in one city in a state from another city or town in that same state.

What Are The Risks and Challenges RVMs Pose?

The EC has written to all the national parties in the country with a list of questions and challenges to the system, seeking feedback on tackling them. These include:

• How to define a domestic migrant?

• How long must someone reside in a state to qualify as a domestic migrant? What if their length of stay in a state is very short?

• How to uniquely identify domestic migrants from other voters? Can all domestic migrants vote remotely?

• How to define remote voting as far as territorial constituency?

• How to implement the Model Code of Conduct in remote voting locations?

• How to provide a controlled environment to ensure secrecy of voting and inducement-free voting?

• Any other statutory, legal, procedural concerns that could affect the polling process.

To this end, the Election Commission has said it will hold a discussion and demonstration of the prototype RVM on 16 January, where it has asked two representatives of each national party to appear and give feedback.

When Will We Get RVMs?

Well, since the prototype RVM is still in the demonstration and discussion stage, it could be a while before RVMs are fully rolled out. However, we're likely to know more on this after the demonstration on 16 January.