New Delhi: All political parties have started preparations for the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024. The Election Commission has also been trying to conduct these elections with better arrangements. Meanwhile, the director of the Indian Institute of Technology i.e. IIT, Gandhinagar has made a big claim. He says that it is a big challenge before the Election Commission to conduct the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Actually, there is a shortage of chips and semiconductors installed in electronic voting machines (EVMs). In such a situation, the low number of EVMs during elections can be disturbing.

Professor Rajat Moona has recently assumed the post of Director of IIT, Gandhinagar. Professor Rajat Moona is also a member of the Technical Expert Committee on EVMs constituted by the Election Commission since 2009. He is very aware of EVMs and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). The committee is headed by retired Professor DT Sahni of IIT Delhi. According to media reports, Moona has said that the world is facing a shortage of semiconductors at this time. He says it is also taking a  lot of time to get the parts. In such a situation, the committee started planning it last year. Moona has said that the number of the previous version of EVM i.e. M2 machines is around 4 lakh. However, an upgraded form or updated version of EVMs is to be used in future elections. These will be M3 machines.  

He said that voting is to be done on these new machines during the upcoming assembly elections. He says that at present, the Election Commission has about 9 lakh EVMs. But for the 2024 elections, about 10 to 11 lakh EVMs will be required. Along with this, 2 to 3 lakh EVMs are to be kept as backup. In such a situation, a total of 13 lakh EVMs will be needed in the 2024 elections. This means that if this situation continues, there will be a shortage of EVMs during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

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