Ballot boxes may be back in rural polls

BANGALORE: Mission over, nearly 80,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs), used in the recent elections, have gone into hibernation in strongrooms across the state.
A few of them will have to wait till election petitions are decided upon. Others wait for the next elections.
But, good old ballot boxes will have to return if the elections are held to local bodies.The Panchayat Raj Act still does not recognise EVMs. The Panchayat Raj Act, Corporation Act and Municipal Act will have to be amended to replace ballot boxes with EVMs.
C Chikkanna, outgoing state election commissioner, said, "We have already sought amendment to the Act, but for two years it has been lying with the government. Until the Assembly gives its nod, ballot boxes will continue to be used."
Over a lakh ballot boxes are in the custody of deputy commissioners and some spare boxes are with the state Election Commission.
Use of ballot boxes invariably means printing ballot papers, which will make green crusaders see red.
State election commission secretary B.G. Nandakumar said, "It has become inevitable to use ballot boxes. Even if we are allowed to use EVMs, we do not have the fund to buy thousands of EVMs. We may have to approach the Election Commission if we are to use the existing EVMs."