August 17: It has been a decade since Ram Prasad Rimal and his twin brother Lakshman Prasad developed an electronic voting machine in the country.

Three major elections have been held since they developed the machine including two local level elections and one for the House of Representatives and the Provincial Assembly.

However, instead of encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation through the use of domestic products, the government and the Election Commission have been neglecting technology to the detriment of those engaged in such work.

Both these bodies are planning to continue using ballot papers which have to be imported from abroad by spending millions of rupees.

There is no need to doubt the reliability of the machine developed by the twin brothers. Using the same voting machine, 100 internal elections of political parties including CPN-UML, RPP and other organizations have been completed flawlessly. In addition, engineering students who design and develop hardware and software for various types of machines have also used the same machine during the elections of student unions.

Ram Lakshman's machine was used during the voting of the last union election at Pulchowk Campus.

Elections of Nepal Chartered Accountants Association, Rotary Club, a prestigious organization of international level, etc. have also been completed with the voting machine prepared by Ram Lakshman's company Ram Lakshman Innovations Pvt Ltd.

According to them, the Election Commission during a demonstration had said it would be easier for them to accept the machine if was used in the voting of an organization. Then they started using the machine in the elections of various organizations.

Dozens of political parties and their sister organizations and other organizations successfully used the machine. Then they again went to the Election Commission but the commission is not yet ready to accept it.

“They neither accept it nor reject it,” rued the Rimal brothers.

The voting machine manufactured in Nepal has already been certified at the international level. The digital certificate issued by the Certification Office of the Government of Nepal has also confirmed that the software of the machine is safe.

Ram Lakshman also clarified that they are not looking for profit. They say that if the government produces the machine, they are ready to provide all kind of support and let them use it without royalty.