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Indian EVMs impress Hillary Clinton

Last updated on: November 16, 2009 15:08 IST

The opposition parties might be raising questions over electronic voting machines of India, but the Electronic Voting Machiness and credible electoral system have impressed the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

"India adopted automated computerised voting several elections ago. We think about India with more than a billion people, something like a half a billion, 600 million vote, illiterate people vote by looking at the pictures on the punch card at the – both the faces and the symbols of parties," Clinton told ABS-CBN television news channel in an interview when asked about Philippines moving from manual to automated voting system.

"What I was so impressed by is that the way India has set this up and I do not know how the Philippines has actually set it up they took it out of politics. It is run by a board of civil servants so that the politicians of any party are not involved in it. And it is so highly effective that nobody questions the results of the elections," Clinton said.

When asked about Philippines transition from manual to automation Clinton said, "Based on our own experience, there will be some bumps in the road. When we moved towards automation, we had some problems, but you just keep working on it and keep perfecting it." "There could be some dry runs, not of a full election, but trying out the technology, making sure you know how it works, educating voters about it. But in many places, it's proven to be quite successful, and I hope the same for you," Clinton said.

Lalit K Jha in Washington
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