The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to allow NRIs to vote through postal or e-ballots during the elections in India. The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by Nagender Chindam, chairman of London-based Pravasi Bharat organisation, and other NRIs including Shamsheer VP. The petitions stated that 114 countries, including 20 Asian nations, have adopted external voting, which could be held by setting up polling booths at diplomatic missions or through postal, proxy or electronic voting.
Piloted and discontinued EVMs
1. Philippines
2. Australia
3. Costa Rica
4. Guatemala
5. Ireland
6. Italy
7. Kazakhstan
8. Norway
9. UK
EVMs in India
The Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) was first used in India in 1982 during the Parur Assembly polls in Kerala. In 1999 Lok Sabha Elections, few constituencies in India used EVMs. However, after the 2004 Lok Sabha Elections, EVMs are being used in every Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
EVMs and the world
A quick research and it is clear that EVMs are not the first choice when it comes recording votes in elections. According to India Today, Out of all the 120 democratic countries, only 25 have experimented or used electronic voting machines to elect their governments.
These 25 countries are:
1. Australia,
2. Belgium
3. Brazil
4. Canada
5. Estonia
6. Finland
7. France
8. Germany
9. India
10. Ireland
11. Italy
12. Kazakhstan
13. Lithuania
14. Namibia
15. The Netherlands
16. Norway
17. Philippines
18. Romania
19. South Korea
20. Spain
21. Switzerland
22. United Arab Emirates
23. The UK
24. USA
25. Venezuela
