India's EVM ballot papers are set to undergo an overhaul, starting from Bihar elections 2025. (File photo)
EC upgrades guidelines; EVMs to show candidates' colour photos
Starting with the Bihar elections, the new guidelines are aimed at improving voter readability and enhancing transparency; serial numbers will be in bold
Starting with the Bihar Assembly elections, the Election Commission’s (EC) new guidelines to change the layout of electronic voting machines’ (EVM) ballot papers will be put into effect. One of the major changes will be the use of the candidates’ colour photographs on the ballot papers.
As per a release by the Press Information Bureau on Wednesday (September 17), the commission revised its existing rules under Rule 49B of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, for the design and printing of EVM ballot papers to make them clearer and more readable.
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Candidate photos would be clearer
About the candidates’ face positions in the photos, the release said they would occupy three-fourths of the photo space for better visibility. Since 2015, the ballot papers pasted on EVMs had the candidates’ black-and-white photos, which many voters found problematic to recognise.
EVM ballot paper overhaul: What's new
1) Candidates' colour photos instead of black-and-white ones
2) The serial number of the candidate or NOTA to be printed in international form of Indian numerals
3) EVM ballot papers to be be printed on 70 GSM paper
4) Names of all candidates/NOTA will be printed in the same font type, font size for easy readability.
5) For Assembly polls, pink-coloured paper of specified RGB values will be
When the practice of using photographs was started a decade ago, the goal was to avoid confusion in constituencies where several candidates either shared the same name or had similar-sounding names.
The initiative is consistent with 28 initiatives the commission has taken in the past six months to streamline and improve voting processes and give voters a more convenient experience.
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Serial numbers, NOTA to be printed
The candidates’ serial numbers and NOTA (none of the above) option would be printed in the international form of Indian numerals. The font size will be 30 and in bold.
“To ensure uniformity, the names of all candidates/NOTA will be printed in the same font type and font size large enough for easy readability,” the release said, adding, “The EVM Ballot Papers will be printed on 70 GSM paper.”
The government also said that pink-coloured paper of specified RGB values would be used for Assembly elections, before confirming that the upgraded EVM ballot papers would be put to use from the upcoming elections in Bihar.
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The decision to introduce the renewed EVM ballot papers comes at a time when the political ambience in the country is heated over the contentious Special Intensive Revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls, which has seen the Opposition locking horns with the National Democratic Alliance government and the poll commission.
(With Agency inputs)