Namibia purchases India-made EVMs for its presidential polls

May 4, 2014

The Namibian government has purchased 3,400 India-made Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for its presidential polls. Previously, India-made EVMs have been used by other countries in Asia to conduct smooth and fair elections.
The EVMs have been bought at a cost of Namibian $10 million (approx $948,000) from Bengaluru-based public sector unit, Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL). The South African nation Namibia, which had ordered 1,700 EVMs in 2013, placed another order earlier this year, is the first African country to use such machines in any of its polls.
What prompted Nambia to buy EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) from India?
Namibia is keen on purchasing the Indian made EVMs for its benefits like faster results, reduction in the number of spoilt ballots, low expenses in conducting the polls, and the elimination of manipulation avenues. Other features of attraction include newly introduced ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA), in-built clocks and Braille markings for the visually impaired. The machine eliminates the possibility of vote tempering by displaying the time when the vote was cast along with recording the ballot. It also gives hourly polling updates.
Which countries have purchased Indian EVMs in past?
Earlier, Nepal, Bhutan, Namibia and Kenya bought BEL manufactured EVMs for conducting their polls. India is only supplying the EVMs not its technology with any of the countries.

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