New Delhi: Will the ballot paper and ballot box make a return to the polling booths during the Lok Sabha elections. They will, if a particular constituency has more than 64 candidates.
The EVMs, manufactured by Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd, has the capacity to include only 64 names and if the number exceeds, then the Election Commission will have to resort to ballot papers.
"Elections can be conducted through EVMs when the maximum number of candidates does not exceed 64. In case the number of nominees goes beyond 64, poll has to be conducted through ballot papers," a senior official said.
It was in 1982 that the EVMs were used for the first time in India during a by-election to North Paravoor Assembly seat in Kerala for a limited number of polling stations. The EVMs were used in 50 polling stations then.
Twenty-two years later, the Lok Sabha election was conducted completely through EVMs.
Prior to 2004, polls used to eat up a huge quantity of paper with 1999 polls witnessing the use of 7,700 metric tonnes for printing ballot papers. The 1996 election saw use of 8,800 metric tonnes for the same.
The decrease in the quantity of paper used may be because of the drastic reduction in the number of candidates in 1999 compared to 1996. There were 13,952 candidates in 1996 while the number in 1999 plummeted to 4,648.
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