Visitors to the Marina beach this weekend can participate in a mock poll using a new system introduced by the Election Commission wherein they can see who they voted for.
The system, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be introduced only in Central Chennai parliamentary constituency in the State owing to a large number of vulnerable polling stations in the constituency.
On Friday, an exhibition on elections and speeches by former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami and District Election Officer Vikram Kapur attracted a number of visitors near the Triumph of Labour Statue.
Folk artistes stressed the need for ethical voting and increased participation. Exhibits at the venue include images of electors braving natural barriers to vote in geographically-challenging environments.
Revised listMeanwhile, Chennai District Election Office has revised the number of polling stations considered to be vulnerable to 255.
Vulnerability of a polling station pertains to the susceptibility of any section of voters to wrongful prevention from the right to vote in a free and fair manner.
“The new list includes polling stations with record of 90 percent of total votes polled with 75 percent of the votes for one candidate,” said an official. Officials will commission web streaming of the poll process in these stations and strengthen monitoring.
Central Chennai parliamentary constituency has more than 100 vulnerable polling stations. A toll-free helpline 1800-425-7012 pertaining to elections has been recording a number of complaints. District Election Office has also increased the number of polling stations from 3,254 to 3,337.
