Centre to consult all on Election Commission’s proposed ‘totaliser’

New Delhi: Additional solicitor-general Neeraj Kishan Kaul told a bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and R. Banumathi on Friday that the Centre was in the process of consulting various stakeholders pursuant to the Law Commission’s report on counting of votes in EVM at one go and it would submit a report to the court.

Employing the totaliser initially suggested by the Election Commission of India (ECI) would enable the counting of votes of about 14 polling booths together, instead of the existing practice of counting votes booth-wise, which makes the voters vulnerable to threats and intimidation by candidates against whom votes have been polled.

In an interim report placed before the Apex Court, the law panel said it endorses the ECI’s suggestion for introducing a totaliser for counting of votes recorded in EVMs, depending upon threat perceptions in the respective polling constituencies or stations.

The EC had made the suggestion initially in 2008 to the Centre to introduce the totaliser; the Centre, in turn, referred it to a parliamentary committee in 2009, but no action was taken. It was said that the current system leaves voters open to post-election harassment and intimidation.