New Delhi, September 17 (IANS) Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday announced a major improvement of electronic voting machines (EVMs) ballot paper design, which aims to increase readability and voter facility.
Advanced format, which includes colorful photographs of candidates for the first time, will be launched with the upcoming Bihar elections.
According to the Commission, this step comes under the revised guidelines under Rule 49B of conduct of election rules, 1961.
The decision is part of the 28 initiatives initiated by the pole body in the last six months to streamline electoral processes and make them more voter friendly.
The poll panel said in its press release, “According to the new design,” serial numbers of candidates/notes will be printed internationally of Indian marks. The font size will be 30 and bold for clarity. ,
“To ensure uniformity, all candidates/NOTA names will be sufficiently printed for the same font type and easy readability in font size,” added.
Valid papers will also take the standardized specifications for printing and they will be produced on 70 GSM paper.
For assembly elections, a separate, pink paper, with defined RGB values, will be used to help voters and polling officers easily identify them.
“EVM ballot papers will be printed on 70 GSM paper. For assembly elections, pink colored paper of specified RGB values will be used,” it has been said.
In particular, new ballot papers will be deployed in Bihar before expanding to other states in later elections.
Officials said the initiative would improve voting experience a lot, especially for the elderly and less literate voters, by reducing confusion and ensuring more transparency.
This development comes only a few weeks before the high-day Bihar assembly elections.
This development is seen as an initiative to increase readability and voter facility.
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SAS/Bike