About:

What is Remote Electronic Voting Machine?

• The new RVM prototype will enable a voter, who is listed in constituencies, to exercise voting rights from a single machine.
• The multi-constituency remote EVM, developed by a public sector undertaking, can handle up to 72 constituencies from a single remote polling booth.
• Migrant voters would not need to travel to their home districts to exercise their franchise if the remote electronic voting machine is implemented properly.
• The remote e-voting machine will be a standalone device which doesn’t need connectivity to operate.
• The Representation of the People Act, The Conduct of Election Rules and The Registration of Electors Rules will need to be amended to introduce remote voting.

How does it work?

• The RVMs will have the same security system and voting experience as the EVM, with the modification of an electronic ballot display with candidates and symbols instead of a fixed ballot paper sheet.
• When the voter scans his/her constituency card in the presence of the Presiding Officer at the station, their respective constituency and candidate list will appear on the RVM display.
• As for counting the votes, the electronic system will also count and store the votes for each candidate in a constituency.

Need:

• As per the 2011 census, 45.36 crore Indians (37% of the population) were internal migrants, settled in a place different from that of their registered residence.
• While 67.4% of the eligible 91.2 crore Indians voted in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, about one-third or close to 30 crore voters did not cast their vote.
• Inability to vote due to internal migration (domestic migrants) is one of the prominent reasons to be addressed to improve voter turnout and ensure participative elections.