One Nation One Election But the discussion is going on at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, the Election Commission has said that in case of simultaneous elections of Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies, it will need about Rs 10,000 crore every 15 years to purchase new ‘Electronic Voting Machines’ (EVMs).
In case of simultaneous elections, one set of EVM machines can be used only three times.
In a letter sent to the government, the commission said that EVM The period of use of the machines is 15 years and if ‘simultaneous elections’ are held, a set of machines can be used only for conducting elections three times during the period of their use.
In case of simultaneous elections, there will be two EVM machines in one center.
According to estimates, a total of 11.80 lakh polling stations will be required across the country for this year’s Lok Sabha elections. When elections to the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies are held simultaneously, two sets of EVMs will be required at each polling station – one for the Lok Sabha seat and the other for the Assembly seat.
In case of simultaneous elections, these things will be needed
In a letter sent to the government, the Commission has said on the basis of past experiences that a certain percentage of ‘Control Units’ (CUs), ‘Ballot Units’ (BUs) and ‘Voter- ‘Verifiable Paper Audit Trail’ (VVPAT) machines are required. In this regard, along with one EVM, at least one BU, one CU and one VVPAT machine is required. The Commission, in its letter to the Law Ministry in February last year, had said that keeping in mind various aspects, the minimum number of EVMs and VVPATs required for simultaneous voting is 46,75,100 BUs, 33,63,300 CUs and 36,62,600 VVPATs. Should be.
Additional polling personnel and security personnel will be required to conduct simultaneous elections.
At the beginning of last year, the interim cost of EVM was Rs 7,900 per BU, Rs 9,800 per CU and VVPAT was Rs 16,000 per unit. The Election Commission also underlined the need for additional polling personnel and security personnel, increased storage facilities for EVMs and more vehicles. The Commission said that keeping in mind the production of new machines, increasing storage facilities and other issues related to logistics, simultaneous elections can be held for the first time only in 2029.
Constitution will have to be amended
To conduct simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, there will be a need to amend five articles of the Constitution. The letter also said that necessary changes would be required in the 10th Schedule of the Constitution related to disqualification on the basis of defection. The High Level Committee on ‘One Nation, One Election’ is mandated to examine and recommend simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, Municipal Bodies and Panchayats, keeping in view the existing mechanism under the Constitution of India and other statutory provisions. Has been handed over.