New Delhi: The EMPI-The Indian Express National Star Trophy has been awarded to the Election Commission of India for the Electronic Voting Machine.

The Award was handed over by Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission for ?Transforming Electoral Processes by Implementing Electronic Voting in the World?s Largest Democracy?. It was received by Dr Alok Shukla, Deputy Election Commissioner on behalf of the Commission.

Electronic Voting Machine has been developed with specialised hardware and software to incorporate requirements that would be friendly to diverse Indian users and meet the stringent constitutional requirements viz. tackling aspects of secrecy, authentication by contestants, avoidance of incorrect/duplicate voting, protection against manipulative interests of individuals, political parties, and election mangers at the election site and during transportation, and building in redundancies in case of failures.

The Jury for the Award comprised of Mr Arun Maira and Mr N Vittal, Padma Bhushan.