Can an EVM record 1,500 votes in a booth, apex court asks EC – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Electronic voting machines, despite repeated clean chits, continue to face scrutiny.
Supreme Court on Monday sought Election Commission‘s response to a PIL which apprehended that many would be denied voting rights as “an EVM can register a maximum of 660 votes per day” even though the number of voters per booth has increased from 1,000 to 1,500.
The petitioner had arrived at the ‘660’ number based on his calculation that a voter would take at least a minute to cast her ballot and voting was typically held for 11 hours on the scheduled day.
A bench of Chief Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar asked senior advocate Maninder Singh, who appeared for EC, to file an affidavit explaining how the commission viewed the issues raised by petitioner Indu Prakash Singh. It posted the matter for further hearing on Jan 27.
Maninder Singh said before conducting an election, EC consults every political party and polls have been conducted smoothly without a single voter complaining that she was not able to vote. He said the efficiency of EVMs have been repeatedly questioned before the SC, which each time, after a detailed verification, has approved the machines. But the bench said, “There is some confusion because of your 2019 circular increasing the voters per booth from 1,000 to 1,500.”
The petitioner said voting took place on the scheduled day for 11 hours and claimed that even if “the election officials inside a booth are super efficient”, a voter would still take one minute to get his/her identity checked, mark name in the electoral roll, apply indelible ink on finger, cast vote and verify VVPAT.
Thus, a total of 660 voters can cast their vote in the 11-hour scheduled voting time, he said. The petition said the cap on voters per booth was revised upwards from 1,000 to 1,500. “As of the 2019 general elections, the average number of electors per polling station was recorded at 877, a decrease from 898 in 2014. Given this data, it is essential to reconsider and lower the upper limit of 1,500 electors per polling booth back to 1,000,” the petitioner said.
“By increasing this limit, the EC has compromised the operational efficiency of polling stations, potentially leading to longer waiting times, overcrowding, and voter fatigue,” he added.
When only 660 electors can cast their vote in an EVM within the scheduled 11-hour period, fixing 1,500 voters per booth would result in many people not being able to cast their vote, leading to disenfranchisement, he claimed.