NEW DELHI, Aug 13 — Decks for conducting Assembly polls completely through electronic voting machines (EVMs) in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Pondicherry next year and in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in 2002 have been cleared, with the Finance Ministry sanctioning Rs 150 crore to the Election Commission (EC) for the purchase of 1.5 lakh new EVMs. Sanction for the funds was accorded by the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha on the basis of a proposal submitted by the Chief Election Commissioner, Dr M.S. Gill through the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs.

“The proposal (for a budgetary provision of Rs 150 crore for purchase of 1.5 lakh EVMs) has been agreed to. A supplementary grant of Rs 150 crore may be sought immediately through the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs to accommodate this requirement,” Mr Sinha said in a recent letter to Dr Gill.

The Chief Election Commissioner in his proposal dated July 17, 2000 had elaborately explained a comprehensive strategy and plan developed by the Commission for the introduction of EVMs for the conduct of polls.

Dr Gill strongly favoured the conduct of any future Assembly and general elections only on EVMs and procurement of 1.5 lakh EVMs before December this year so that the Assembly polls in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Pondicherry, due early next year, could be conducted on EVMs.

“In the coming year (2001), elections are to be held in four states for new state Assemblies. The commission would like to make use of EVMs on a large scale and, if possible, to cover all the constituencies in major states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and Pondicherry, where the machines have been used successfully in select constituencies on earlier occasions,” Dr Gill said.

“The commission also felt that planning for the next phase of procuring of another 1.5 lakh EVMs to cover Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, should also be immediately initiated,” the CEC said in his letter.

Meanwhile, Election Commission sources said two public sector undertakings — Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) — during a meeting with the commission, have sought 10 months time to supply the EVMs.

The two companies were also told about the problem of “memory loss” reported in some of the EVMs used in the past Assembly polls and the representatives of the two companies have assured to take effective measures to prevent it.

The Election Commission, in November 1988, took a bold initiative for making experimental use of the EVMs in 16 Assembly constituencies. Thereafter, these machines have been used in several polls — bye-elections in February, 1999, State Assembly Elections in Goa in June 1999, Parliamentary Elections in September-October, 1999 and Assembly elections in February 2,000.

The commission has steadily expanded the use of machines despite opposition from political parties in 1999, covered 45 Parliamentary constituencies with an electorate of more than six crores and more than 65,000 polling stations.

EVMs were also used for simultaneous Assembly Elections in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In the recently held state Assembly elections, 50 per cent of the Assembly constituencies in Haryana used with EVMs.