All About BEL, The State-Run PSU That Manufactures EVM

Election fever is on and if there is one unsung hero at the core of India's vibrant democracy, it is the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Often remembered by the losing parties for allegations of tampering, the EVMs are manufactured and designed by state-owned Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). 

What is BEL?

BEL is a public sector undertaking (PSU), under Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Electronics Corporation Of India Limited (ECIL). It is a government entity that aims to become a "world-class enterprise in professional electronics", says their website. The company cters to various sectors such as defence railways, metro, civil aviation, e-governance systems, among others. One of their non-defence products is the EVM.

EVMs: How do they function?

The EVMs designed by BEL consist of 'two units'. While the central unit of an EVM is the Control Unit (CU), the interface between the voter and the machine is the Ballot Unit(BU). The Control Unit takes care of total control of polling, conduction of polling, display of total votes polled and declaration of results. It provides all the information at the press of few buttons.

The ballot unit is a simple voting device, it displays a list of candidates. A facility to introduce names and symbol is inbuilt. The voter has to press the desired switch located near to the name of each candidate, the website describes. The EVM can cater to 384 candidates using up to 24 Ballot Units.

BEL share price today | About BEL

With a market cap of Rs 2,05,258.59 crore, BEL is one of the largest companies in the electronics sector. The share price of BEL closed at Rs 280.80 on Friday, up 1.92 per cent over the previous close.

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