Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) shares are likely to spurt on stock exchanges in response to the company securing orders to supply electronic voting machines (EVMs) on Wednesday. The Rs 10.09 billion order will be split between the Bengaluru-based defence PSU and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), Hyderabad.
The new EVMs will be used in elections in the coming years, including the Lok Sabha polls due in 2019.
This year saw elections in five states, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam.
Each EVM consists of one controlling unit and one ballot unit.
BEL shares closed at Rs 1,461 on Wednesday on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Last December, the two companies got a fillip to their EVM business when the Election Commission of India (ECIL) got an “in principle” approval from the union law ministry to buy 13,95,648 new balloting units and 9,30,482 control units at an estimated cost of Rs 55.11 billion in a staggered manner, between 2015-16 and 2018-19.
By Baishakhi Dutta
