President Election 2022: Why EVMs are not used in Presidential elections? Know the special reason for using the ballot box

NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu and the opposition's joint candidate Yashwant Sinha are in the race for the President's post. Ever wondered why the Electronic Voting Machines, used in four Lok Sabha elections and 127 assembly elections since 2004, are not used in the election of the President and Vice President of India, members of Rajya Sabha, and members of state legislative councils?

EVMs are based on a technology where it acts as an aggregator of votes in direct elections such as Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. Voters press the button next to the name of the candidate of their choice and the one who receives the most votes is declared elected, but the President is elected according to the system of proportional representation using the single transferable vote.

According to the system of proportional representation, through the single transferable vote, each elector can mark as many preferences as the number of candidates contesting the election. Officials said that EVMs are not designed to record this method of voting. EVM is a vote aggregator and under a proportional representation system the machine will have to count votes based on preference and it will require completely different technology. In other words, a different type of EVM would be required.

EVMs have been used in four Lok Sabha and 127 assembly elections since 2004, according to the August 2021 issue of the Election Commission's quarterly magazine 'My Vote Matters'. According to the Election Commission website, it was first envisioned by the Election Commission in 1977, and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Hyderabad was entrusted with the task of designing and developing EVMs.

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