Odisha to continue with ballot papers for rural polls, EVMs for urban

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Ballot papers continue to be used for voting in panchayat polls while voters will exercise their franchise through EVMs in urban local body polls slated next year, said State Election Commissioner (SEC) Madhusudan Padhi on Thursday.

“We have around 91,000 booths across the State for panchayat polls, and we will require four EVMs per booth. The number of EVMs required for panchayat polls will be around 3.36 lakh. This quantity of EVMs is not available, and the usage of EVMs also costs high,” said Mr. Padhi.

He said, “on the other hand, a large number of voters cast their votes in booths in urban centres and two EVMs are required for every booth. So, EVMs will be used in towns and cities.” The counting of votes will be done centrally.