The Election Commission will discuss sharing technology with state poll panels, mandated to hold municipal and panchayat elections in states, at a conference here on Tuesday.
The conference is being held after a gap of 27 years. The last such conference was held in 1999. State Election Commissioners of all states and Union Territories will participate along with their legal and technical experts.
At the round table conference EC is holding with state election commissions, “discussions will focus around sharing of technology, EVMs and electoral rolls, besides strengthening of electoral processes,” the poll authority said.
State poll panels take EC’s electoral rolls, used for assembly polls, and employ them as per their requirements for holding local body polls.
The shelf life of an EVM is 15 years, and machines at the end of their life cycle are usually given to state poll panels for holding local elections.
The EC at present uses ‘M3’ or Mark III type of EVMs to hold Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
The EC does not charge states for using their EVMs. Once an EVM leaves the EC’s custody, it is no longer called ECI-EVM.
Machines that complete their life cycle are destroyed under security.