New Delhi: The 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11 and ending on May 19.
As the nation awaits the 17th Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party will vigorously strive to come back to power and the BJP will look to consolidate its hold in the Centre.
In preparation for the counting of votes, the Election Commission of India is working on sample checks on EVMs but it has limited paper trails to only 2.5 percent of the machines.
However, more than 10 opposition parties have knocked the doors of the Supreme Court of India seeking verification of 50 percent votes by paper trails before the declaration of the results.
With approximately 10 lakh polling stations this year, compared to 9 lakh during the last election, the Election Commission has demanded a sanction of Rs 4500 Crore to procure around 12 lakh additional EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) and VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail).
According to a report by PTI, a source from the EC said that since EVMs and paper-trail machines are deployed in every polling station, the requirement is for 10 lakh EVMs and an equal number of paper-trail machines. “In addition to that, 20 percent of the machines are kept on reserve, bringing the number to two lakh. Hence, to hold the Lok Sabha polls, the EC would need 12 lakh EVMs and an equal number of VVPAT machines,” added the source.
