Assam mulls ballot papers, not EVMs in Panchayat elections

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The state government was mulling the use of EVMs in the forthcoming Panchayat elections in the state a few months ago. But now, the state government is thinking of using ballot papers for the polls, as was done earlier.

The review of the earlier plan to use EVMs was prompted by the realization that there are no EVMs available with the Assam State Election Commission to conduct the local polls. The EVMs used in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election in the state all belong to the Election Commission of India.

Talking to The Sentinel on this issue, state Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Ranjeet Kumar Dass said, “Our government is planning to hold the next Panchayat elections in November 2024 after the delimitation exercise of the Panchayats in the state. The Panchayat election is a big exercise, and counting ballot papers takes a long time. To reduce the time taken in the counting process, we thought that we would use EVMs in the polls. But, when we studied the reality of this issue, we found that one polling station requires three EVMs, as there are a number of tiers in the Panchayati system. On the other hand, only one EVM is needed for one polling station in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. There will be a huge burden on the state exchequer if we have to buy three EVMs per polling station, as there are more than 28,000 polling stations in the state. Therefore, we reviewed our earlier plan to use EVMs in the Panchayat poll. Now, we are mulling the use of ballot papers in the election exercise, as was done in the last Panchayat poll,” Dass stated.

The election to the Panchayat bodies is not conducted by the state government but by the Assam State Election Commission. However, the state government provides financial support to the Commission to organize the polls.

A few days ago, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the delimitation of the Panchayats would be over by August and the Panchayat election would be held in November 2024.

The term of all Panchayats in the state is already over, at the end of their five-year tenure.

Also Read: Asom Gana Parishad gears up for panchayat polls and bye-elections (sentinelassam.com)

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