Why Is the Centre Opposed to Totalisers?, Pg14

Key Highlights:

• The Supreme Court has directed the Central government to examine the possibility of introducing totaliser machines for counting votes recorded in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
• The primary objective of totalisers is to protect the secrecy of booth-wise voting patterns and prevent voter intimidation.
• The issue stems from a 2014 Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Yogesh Gupta and Imran Khan.
• The Election Commission has consistently supported the introduction of totalisers, while the Central government has opposed it.

Detailed Insights:

• A totaliser is designed to count votes from approximately 14 polling booths together, obscuring the voting pattern of individual areas.
• Currently, votes are tallied booth by booth, which can allow candidates to identify and potentially intimidate voters in specific localities.
• Petitioners cited instances of alleged intimidation where politicians threatened voters based on their party's performance in particular booths.
• The Centre has argued that booth-wise results encourage candidates to work harder in areas with less support and that widespread intimidation is unlikely.
• Concerns about potential data breaches before vote counting have also been raised by the Central government regarding totaliser implementation.
• The Election Commission first proposed the totaliser system to the United Progressive Alliance government in 2008.
• The Supreme Court has specifically asked the Centre to identify any impediments or negative impacts of adopting the totaliser mechanism.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Totaliser: A device proposed to consolidate votes from multiple EVMs (around 14) to prevent the disclosure of individual polling booth voting patterns.
• Electronic Voting Machine (EVM): An electronic device used in elections to record and count votes, replacing traditional paper ballots.
• Public Interest Litigation (PIL): A legal action initiated in a court of law for the protection of public interest, rather than private interest.