A team of technical personnel from the Electoral Commission of India (ECI) and Bharat Electronic Limited at the weekend demonstrated the electronic voting machines (EVM) which, they said, would eliminate the challenges of electoral fraud and multiple voting in Nigeria.

The team, which comprised the General Manager of Bharat Electronic Limited, Mr. Sumara Kumar, and the company’s Deputy General Manager, Mrs. Mini Bijoy, made a presentation on how the EVM works to some All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains at Lagos House, Marina.

The party chieftains at the presentation included Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, his Rivers State counterpart, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, former Kwara State Governor, Senator Bukola Saraki, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Lai Mohammed and former Minister for Federal Capital, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai among others.

At the presentation, Kumar shared how the Electoral Commission of India initiated the idea of electronic voting more than 16 years, which he said, was due to the recurring problems of electoral frauds and multiple voting.

He explained that Bharat Electronic Limited developed the electronic voting device, which he said, was tried some constituencies between 1982 and 1984 before the device were deployed for national elections.

Kumar said the case of double voting or alteration of figures was eliminated by the machine, adding that the EVMs “has shortened the time between voter identification and registration and release of voting results.

“Voting with the EVM eliminates processes like issuing of ballot papers to voters, indelible ink marking on voter’s finger, stamp on ballot paper by voter and folding and dropping of ballot paper into ballot box among other processes.”

Kumar also added that the machines “are portable, easy to operate, tamper proof and the fact that the battery life is for over 36 hours and has been used in Namibia and Nepal where elections had been held with remarkable results.

“Some of the features of the electronic voting process were clearly exhibited such as the prevention of people from having the opportunity to engage in multiple voting through the vigilance of the electoral officers.”

Kumar said the machine “does not presently have provision for fingerprints detection, though can be incorporated into it. In both India, Namibia and Nepal where the EVMs have been deployed, the electoral commissions had succeeded in preventing multiple voting through their vigilance.

On the possibility of data being lost through the vandalism of the machine, Kumar said the software could save data on the machine and could be recalled much later from the memory as it had been proved.

Before the presentation, Fashola advocated electronic voting system for the conduct of elections in the country, noting that it would not only save the country a lot of funds and stress experienced during in the voting process.

The governor, also argued that the use of electronic voting machines would encourage more participation by Nigerians who ordinarily were apathetic about voting due to the rigours involved.

Fashola acknowledged that he invited Bharat Electronic Limited to Nigeria, explaining that he decided to invite the firm after he visited India, where the system has been successfully used over the years.

He added that if the ECI could conduct elections successfully for over 800 million Indian voters with the use of the machine, it was possible that the present electoral problems of Nigeria with just 170 million population, would be solved.

“I went to India to participate in an Urban Development Conference and it coincided with the period we were having some challenges with the distribution of Permanent Voters’ Cards in Lagos. So, I took off time to visit the Electoral Commission of India just to see how it works for them because I felt that if they were having it easy with a population thrice as large as ours, then we need to learn from them.

“The result of that visit showed that Nigeria’s problem could be solved. If the Election Commission of India could register and conduct voting for 800 million people their Nigerian counterpart could learn from them and make voting easier for Nigerians.

“I started working on how to bring the company that manufactures the machines here, getting visas from the High Commission for them to come here. Now they are here to show Nigerians that it is not rocket science. It is now left for us to find the will to do things better. I even believe these machines could be made here if we put our scientists to task to solve our problems.”

However, Fashola said the decision “to use or not to use the EVM in the next elections is for Nigerians to decide. But it makes sense because if we are going digital in all other things and processes, cameras and flashes for photography, it makes our life better; so why are we afraid to use the EVM? Almost everything we do now is electronic so why should the issue of use of EVM be a point of discussion. The fact is that automation improves efficiency.

“The truth is that when I saw this thing, it looked so simple and it made sense. Before, I used to think it was such a complex thing. People are sometimes afraid of what they do not understand. So I said maybe some people who resist this thing resist it because it is something they can’t visually connect.

“From what the electoral commission told me, each machine is about N50,000; so if we want to do 120,000 polling units, which is what we have in the country, we need about N6 billion. That is a lot of savings. We spent about N86 billion in the last elections.

“So, even if we want to buy two machines for each polling unit it will cost about N12 billion and we will have these machines for the next 16 years. We are not going to buy them in the next four years. So, this is what I thought; put this thing in the open and let people understand so we can start a real discussion on it.”

Chanchit:
So Fashola don turn INEC Boss!? Pls, schedule another meeting with Jega.

Chanchit:
So Fashola don turn INEC Boss!? Pls, schedule another meeting with Jega.

Ilekokonit:
If INEC and their paymasters were serious about combating electoral fraud, this should have been done years ago but the whole system in nigeria benefits from the tedious, manual counting as it suits their whole agenda of rigging by dabaru and confusion.

laBarca:
@CFCfan its a good idea but... It's easier to manipulate

donmalcolm21:
Is Fashola INEC? These Indians just lost an oppourtunity to sell their wares, Fashola you can now list testing of voting machine as one of your utopian achievement.

Ilekokonit:
If INEC and their paymasters were serious about combating electoral fraud, this should have been done years ago but the whole system in nigeria benefits from the tedious, manual counting as it suits their whole agenda of rigging by dabaru and confusion.

Leboska:

If Tinubu's toy sorry Fashola is sincere why no start with local government election lets see.

Your case is pathetic...

RockMaxi:


Your case is pathetic...