The Election Commission (EC) has expressed its reservations over bringing parity between voting age and the minimum age for contesting elections even as it told a parliamentary panel that it has developed “credible and modified version of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM)” and would make a presentation of it for all parties at Vigyan Bhavan in January, sources said. The EC officials, as per sources, who appeared before the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice on Monday said it was not in favour of bringing down the minimum age limit as the eligibility for contesting elections for Lok Sabha, legislative assemblies, Rajya Sabha and upper houses of the state assemblies. Sources said the parliamentary panel had asked if the minimum age could be brought down from 25 to 21 for the Lok Sabha and assemblies while reducing it from 30 to 25 for the upper house bodies. The suggestion was also part of a few reform proposals referred to the poll panel in 1998 also. The officials pointed out that there were such suggestions before the Constituent Assembly, but B R Ambedkar had moved a resolution to insert a new Article – which is currently Article 84 of the Constitution – to oppose such a move. Ambedkar had suggested that people who have some higher qualification and a certain amount of knowledge and practical experiences in the affairs of the world should serve the Legislature. The poll panel was of the view that legislatures have been entrusted with the most crucial and vital role and responsibility of laying down the policies and the programmes and enacting laws for the country. It wanted the status quo in this, said sources. But the panel informed the members that it has been considering various options to study the feasibility of remote voting in the election. Although a modified version of EVM has been developed, it is going through comprehensive analysis apart from the technological issues, the officials told the MPs. Its legal basis, electoral-roll related matters, administrative issues, technology, timing and mode of remote voting, etc. are under analysis, sources said. The Commission has scheduled a presentation before an all party meeting on January 16 at Vigyan Bhavan and a similar presentation would be made before the standing committee also later. With an aim to increase voter turnout, the EC had on December 28 written to all national and state political parties about the Remote Voting Machine (RVM) that has been developed by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL). The machine would be stand-alone and not connected to the internet, it had said. After registering with the Returning Officer of the home constituency, the migrant electors would be able to cast their vote at special remote polling stations at various locations. The RVM would be able to cover 72 constituencies at one time. Another issue came up before the panel was the feasibility of linking Aadhaar with electoral photo identity card, an exercise that has been going on for a while.
