One country, one election: 2029 simultaneous polls may require 53 billion rupees, more than 10 million EVM units
The polling team is currently preparing to answer several inquiries raised by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on a country (one election bill).
A key question raised in JPC queries focuses on spending involved in simultaneous elections and whether it can help reduce costs. Most of the responses are set to center on the EVM-VVPAT combination.
machine
The ECI currently has over 30 lakh BUs, 22 lakh CUs (BU and CU together make the EVM) and nearly 24 lakh VVPATs and several of the 2013-14 vintage machines will have to retire by 2029. This would mean a shortfall of nearly 20 lakh BUs, 13.6 lakh CUs and 10 lakh plus VVPATs for a 2029 simulateneous election requirement.
The EVM-VVPAT requirement involves three key factors. The first is related to the number of polling stations, an estimated 15% increase over the 2024 LS election, which is the general formula ECI uses for EVM requirements estimation.
According to the estimate, the 10.53 million polling stations for the 2024 LS polling survey increased by 15%, which means that the 12.1 million polling stations in 2029 have exceeded Rs 1.21 million polling stations. In addition, each polling station usually requires two sets of EVMs. In addition to this, nearly 70% of buses, 25% of CUs and 35% of VVPAT are reserved for reserves in case of any defects in the first-level inspection phase. Current availability is over 3 million buses, 2.2 million CUS and 2.3 million VVPAT, nearly 350,000 buses and 1.25 million CUS are expected to complete a 15-year life span, resulting in a shortage.
Support system supply chain
The second major factor is the supply issue. The poll team will be cautious because before the 2024 LS poll, when semiconductor supply lags behind the speed of manufacturing EVM-VVPAT machines on two psus in India, it faces a serious situation ahead of the 2024 poll, although the poll team has advanced orders in advance.
Given the experience, ECI hopes to place an order and prepare inventory in advance to achieve the situation in 2029. If it appears, it must also keep in mind the requirement, namely, the technical upgrade of EVM now in the M3 version.
The third key issue is the logistical challenge in building an entire ecosystem for simultaneous polling programs. ECI has determined that the number of secure repositories that store EVM-VVPAT needs to be increased. Countries like Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim do not have their own warehouses, which brings logistical challenges.
There is also a pressing issue, that is, preparing and training personnel to conduct concurrent polls, allowing manufacturers’ well-trained engineers to conduct first-level inspections – this exercise started six months before the Lok Sabha poll and began four months ahead of the state legislature.
Similarly, in addition to securing 1.2 million and polling stations, so many warehouses are also a human challenge.
