Parties block EC plan on vote secrecy

The Totaliser has been jointly developed by the Electronics Corporation of India Limited and the Bharat Electronics Limited. Ever since the EC introduced EVMs,a major complaint was that candidates and parties were aware of the precise number of votes polled by each candidate in each polling station,leading to post-election vindictive attitude against the electors where the candidate did not fare well.

The prevailing system also leads to pre-poll harassment and intimidation of voters. In the last UP Assembly polls,there were complaints from dacoit-infested areas that a particular community was harassed. In the last elections,the party supported by a gang of dacoits had not fared well. This is why the EC was keen to use Totaliser, said an EC officer.

According to sources,the panel had sometime back asked the EC to give a demonstration of Totaliser. Due to elections,all parties have expressed their inability to attend the presentation. We will wait for the elections to be over, said sources in the panel.