BENGALURU: The annual election to
Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce
(
KFCC
), apex body of the Kannada film industry, will see a return of the printed ballot in place of electronic voting machines (EVMs) this Saturday.
The candidates and the outgoing office-bearers are against the ballot box, fearing it will be chaotic and will delay the results. However, chief election officer Thomas D’Souza, also a former KFCC chief, said he has no option left after Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) informed him of its inability to supply the required EVMs.
Election campaigning has been on in full swing for the last two weeks. But it was only on Wednesday that candidates came to know that ballots would be used. Some claimed the decision was the result of a letter to D’Souza by Chinne Gowda, former KFCC president, saying that EVMs could trigger a Covid-19 scare.
On Wednesday, 28 candidates met and requested D’Souza to go ahead with EVMs. Outgoing office-bearer A
Ganesh said: “We have informed the election officer that proper sanitization measures can be taken but the election should be conducted with EVMs. The executive committee had also decided on EVMs for the election. Ballots will create unnecessary confusion as each voter has to vote for eight office-bearers, 12 executive committee members, and nine sector council members.”
D’Souza, however, said EVMs are out of the question now. “The bylaws say we have to use approved EVMs or ballot paper. BEL is the only supplier of approved EVMs. They have informed us of their inability to supply them because of a prior commitment. There will be some inconvenience, but we have to have a fair and transparent election.”
A total of 1,800 people, including 1,290 producers, 412 distributors and 187 exhibitors, will vote to select a new governing body. Polling is scheduled for Saturday between 2pm and 6pm and the counting of votes will commence immediately after. “We are appointing additional people for counting the ballots,” D’Souza said.
For over a decade, EVMs have been used in the annual
KFCC election
. This year, former president Sa Ra Govindu and his team are trying to come back to power after a four-year gap. His principal opponent is producer Ba Ma Harish.
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