It was responding to recent reports in the Indian media which said Singapore was one of several countries to have shown an interest in buying electronic voting machines from Indian company Bharat Electronics.

The department told The Straits Times it had studied the electronic voting systems used in the elections of some countries since 2000.

'In 2003, we approached Bharat Electronics Limited to study the electronic voting machines used in the India elections,' it said in an e-mail reply.

'To date, no decision has been taken yet on when electronic voting will be implemented in our elections and which electronic voting system will be used,' it added.

Electronic voting is not a new issue. It was debated in Parliament in 2001 when the Parliamentary Elections Act was amended to provide for it.

With the change, any direct recording electronic voting system - one which directly records a vote - must be approved by the Auditor-General or someone appointed by the minister in consultation with him.

The system must also allow for voting in secret and be safe from fraudulent use, among other requirements.

The Government said then that it might want to try electronic voting in some wards, but ruled it out later that year, citing concerns over the security of the system.

Yesterday, the Elections Department said it had not approached any other companies about their machines.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.