By Admin 
New Guidelines for EVM Bihar Elections: Preparations for Bihar assembly elections are in full swing. Even though the Election Commission has not yet announced the voting dates, but before that an important change has been implemented. This time, when voters reach to vote, they will see colorful pictures of candidates on EVM ballot. Earlier, photo black and white used to be printed on ballot paper.
The Election Commission says that this initiative is being first started from Bihar. Later it will also be implemented in other states. Under the new guideline, the picture of the candidate will be in three-fourths on the ballot paper so that voters can easily identify the face. Also, the sequence number will also be given more prominence than before. Let us know how much the Election Commission spends on installing EVMs at a booth.
EVM cost
According to the Election Commission data, the price of the ballot unit is around Rs 7991, while the price of control unit has been fixed at Rs 9812. VVPAT is more expensive than these two, which costs around Rs 16,132. Once purchased EVM machine can be used for 15 years on an average, which argues to reduce the cost of election. However, critics believe that after the election ends, it costs a lot in keeping EVMs safe and hi -tech monitoring on them.
How much is spent for EVMs at polling booth
It is not an easy task to hold elections in a huge democratic country like India. To ensure transparency and security at every booth, the Election Commission has to spend a large amount. According to the reports, only 50 to 60 thousand rupees are spent on an average on installing EVMs at one polling station and arrangements related to it. This includes the technical system of EVMs, transport, deployment of security forces and all the allowances of polling personnel.
Expenditure from Assembly to Lok Sabha
If we talk about the assembly elections, millions of booths are made in a state. In such a situation, the total cost reaches thousands of crores of rupees. At the same time, the scope of Lok Sabha elections is much larger than this. More than 1 million polling booths are set up all over the country. According to this, only the cost of thousands of crores of rupees is incurred on booths and EVM management.
The Election Commission says that this expenditure is spent for the strength of democracy and guarantee of fair election. Expenditure includes security arrangements, personnel training, facilities at polling stations and voter awareness campaigns. Experts believe that this investment is necessary for technology and transparency.
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