Bangalore, Mar 26: After India's parliamentary elections, the next big assignment for India's electronic voting machines (EVMs) could be the US presidential elections.
The Bangalore-based Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), which is rushing through its biggest order yet as Indian elections go completely electronic, is contemplating making a go for the US elections later this year.

"We have to bid for tenders that each American state will float for the primary and secondary round of elections," NN Simha, BEL general manager, export manufacturing unit, told in an interview.

Simha said he hoped the April 20-May 10 elections, the first ever in Indian history to be conducted entirely with EVMs, would aptly showcase the machines before they were to be marketed in the West.
"Once the world gets to see the efficacy and utility of EVMs in these elections, we will be in a better position to pitch for orders from the West, especially in the US, for the presidential elections."

According to him, BEL's EVMs were customized for Indian elections, but could be used for various types of elections with slight modifications. "We are exploring the European and US markets."

He pointed out that unlike in India, where voters had to push the button to make only one choice, Americans had to record six choices including for the senate, state and the presidential referendum.

BEL had applied for an international patent for its model, said Simha, adding that as part of its export strategy it had been promoting the EVM in some countries.
"Watching their extensive use in India, South Asian and Southeast Asian countries have evinced interest, with Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia ordering samples," he revealed.

"We have developed models specific to these countries and reached the qualification rounds for bidding. Their election process is equally complex though the number of voters is far less than in our country."

Simha said the machines could be programmed for various kinds of elections with multiple functions and they had a shelf life of 15 to 20 years. Labour unions, universities and corporate bodies could deploy them.

The BEL has introduced an "extra shift" so that its employees can make it to the March 31 deadline for supplying machines to the Election Commission for balloting across the country.

The poll panel has requisitioned 1.07 machines from BEL as well as Hyderabad-based Electronic Corp of India Ltd (ECIL) for use in 700,000 booths spread across 543 parliamentary constituencies.

Simha insisted that the company was on schedule.
"Over the last month-and-a-half, we have ramped up the production level and introduced third shift to operate the assembly lines round-the-clock."

With just 200 engineers working on an eight-hour shift, the company is relying heavily on a high level of automation and skill to meet its production target.

Some 35,000 EVMs have been shipped, said Simha, and the remaining 25,000 machines were undergoing quality checks and packaging for delivery by March-end.

Listing the advantages of EVMs as opposed to the traditional ballot paper, the official said the machines enabled easy voting at the rate of six per minute and also facilitated quick results.

Each machine can register 3,500-4,000 votes and caters to a maximum of 64 candidates. Besides obvious advantages, the machines are tamper proof and accurate.

Simha said a 10-member team of hardware and software engineers took over a year to customize the machine, design, develop and test prototypes for mass production.

The poll panel started deploying them in the early nineties, till they were used extensively in the 1989 assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, although never entirely.

In the 1999 parliamentary elections, they were used in 46 constituencies of 17 states and union territories.

According to Simha, BEL coordinated with the poll panel to educate and train officials on how to use an EVM. As for voters, "they have been delighted to use the push-button apparatus...it gave them a sense of power".