The counting of votes of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) mock poll held on Sunday in 36 polling booths in the Vattiyoorkavu Assembly constituency took place at the District Collectorate here on Monday. The votes in the electronic voting machines were counted first.
The printed paper ballot slips stored in the printers and those deposited by the voters in ballot boxes were counted and tallied with the number of votes recorded for each ‘candidate' in the respective EVMs. Except for some minor differences noticed in some booths, the votes registered in the EVMs and those printed in the printers tallied, a press note quoting the Chief Electoral Officer said.
K.F. Wilfred, Principal Secretary, Election Commission of India; Rajath Moona; expert committee member of VVPAT; Nalini Netto; Chief Electoral Officer; P.M. Francis, District Collector; V.V Raghavan; Section Officer, Election Commission of India; and Deputy Collector (Election) Sheeba George; were present at the centre of counting. The feedback taken from the presiding officers and the counting staff was handed over to Mr. Wilfred. The feedback taken from the voters will be consolidated by the District Election Officer and forwarded to the Chief Electoral Officer for onward transmission to the Election Commission.
A decision on implementing the system will be taken by the Election Commission only after analysing the feedback taken from all quarters, including political parties, and after thorough technical analysis of the new system, the press note said.