R'than varsity to use EVMs for polls

 The Rajasthan University will be the first varsity in the country to use Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in students’ union elections scheduled on August 23.

Senior government officials said the Rajasthan University has demanded 1,000 EVMs from the state election department, which is almost ready to give 920 EVMs. The machines will be installed at various polling booths in the university and its four constituent colleges.

The university administration and the Office of Dean of Students’ Welfare are upbeat with the development as it will save a lot of efforts that are put in counting of votes manually.
However, the university officials said they have not received any official letter regarding sanction of EVMs.

“We have requested the state government to issue us 1,000 EVMs to conduct students’ union elections. But no official communication has taken place as of now,” said Dev Swarup, vice-chancellor, University of Rajasthan.

However, the election department has responded positively to the demand, the vice-chancellor added.

The university officials said the varsity has strength of 29,000 students which is the highest in any state. Even 50 per cent voter turnout leads to long queues especially at the Maharani’s College and Law College. The ballot box system is also a time consuming process.

Most of the time, results are declared late in the evening and students demand recounting. Each time the university administration dismisses the request which leads to protest by students and law and order problem, the officials said.

The university is also hopeful that the voting percentage will shoot up with the introduction of EVMs.

Once EVMs are allotted, the election department will conduct a training programme for the university official to educate them on handling of EVMs, sources said.