Fact Check: Did Election Commission Say It Intends To Use Ballot Papers?

Will elections this time be conducted using ballot papers? A social media post with a newspaper clipping claims that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced new guidelines in this regard. The news item indicates that voting will be conducted using ballot papers instead of EVMs (electronic voting machines). It also includes the viewpoints of several stakeholders who endorse the ECI’s decision. This article seeks to fact-check the accuracy of the information presented.

The archived version of this post can be found here.

Claim: Election Commission’s announcement of new guidelines, indicating that voting will be conducted using ballot papers instead of EVMs.

Fact: The Election Commission of India did not release any new guidelines indicating the use of ballot papers for conducting elections. In fact, according to the official schedule released for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the commission plans to conduct the elections using EVMs. Recently, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea advocating for the use of ballot papers in elections. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.

Recently, the Election Commission of India unveiled the complete schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and even issued notification for the first phase. However, the commission did not announce any intention to conduct the elections using ballot papers.

According to Article 324 of the Constitution of India, the Election Commission of India holds authority over the supervision, direction, and regulation of parliamentary elections. Additionally, in 1988, the Parliament amended the Representation of the People Act, 1951, introducing Section 61A, which empowers the Election Commission to utilize Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Even in the recently released official schedule, the ECI announced that the elections will be held using EVMs. Contrary to the viral claim, the ECI did not announce any inclination to conduct polls using ballot papers.

It is important to highlight that the Supreme Court recently rejected a plea advocating for the use of ballot papers in elections. In dismissing the petition, the Court expressed confidence in the reliability of EVMs. Previously, the Supreme Court and several state High Courts have also rejected similar pleas on multiple occasions.

Read | Supreme Court Rejects Petitions Against EVM Use In Elections

Earlier, in a significant ruling, the Supreme Court recently declared electoral bonds unconstitutional and invalidated them. The Court deemed electoral bonds a breach of the right to information as per Article 19(1) of the Constitution. However, there is no judgment or order of the court about EVMs.

Moreover, both the government and specifically the Election Commission of India dismissed claims about conducting elections using ballot papers. When certain YouTube channels disseminated misinformation regarding EVMs, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) unequivocally refuted these claims as false.

To sum it up, the Election Commission did not announce conducting the elections using a ballot paper, shunning EVMs.

This story was originally published by Factly, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.