State Election Commission asks for additional EVMs to cope with shortage

With Zilla Parishad (ZP) and Panchayat Samiti elections falling in the same month as the Mumbai Civic elections, there seems to be a shortage of electronic voting machines. Taking stock of the situation, the State Election Commission has decided to bring in the required number of machines from other towns and cities of the state, but only after the ZP and Panchayat Samiti elections have concluded.

This time, Mumbai will have 7,304 polling booths compared to the last civic elections in 2012. Civic officials said that considering the number of polling booths, the civic body will need at least an additional 12,000 to 12,500 Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) for voting on polling day. Similarly, it will need 9,500 control machines and 9,000 memory cards.

"Apart from EVMs, Mumbai also has a shortage of at least 1,377 control machines and 6,000 memory cards required for the EVMs. We are trying to put these requirements before the Election Commission by Friday (February 10, 2017).

The Mumbai civic election is slated for February 21, 2017, and the State Election Commission is planning to get machines from Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Raigad. "Considering the requirement of the city polls, we will have to get more machines. This can only happen once the Zilla Parishad elections conclude on February 16.