EVMs to have colour photos of candidates

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Starting from Bihar assembly elections, the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) will now have colour photographs of candidates.

Since 2015, the ballot papers pasted on EVMs had black and white photos of candidates which many voters found difficult to recognise.

The serial number will also be displayed more prominently on the machines, the Election Commission of India said on Wednesday.

The poll authority has revised the existing guidelines under Section 49B of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, for the design and printing of EVM ballot papers to enhance their clarity and readability.

"Henceforth, photographs of candidates will be printed in colour on the EVM ballot paper. The candidate's face will occupy three-fourths of the photo space for better visibility," it said.

Serial numbers of candidates and the None Of The Above (NOTA) option will be printed in the international form of Indian numerals.

The font size will be 30 and in bold for clarity.

To ensure uniformity, the names of all candidates and NOTA option will be printed in the same font type and font size large enough for easy readability, it explained.

The EVM ballot papers will be printed on 70 GSM paper.

For assembly elections, pink-coloured paper of specified 'RGB values' will be used.

The upgraded EVM ballot papers will be used in the upcoming elections, starting from Bihar, the poll body said.

When the practice to use photographs was started 10 years ago, the aim was to avoid confusion in constituencies where several candidates shared the same name or have similar sounding names. PTI NAB RUK RUK