To ensure transparency in the polling process, all Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) that will be in use during the April 9 bypolls to Nanjangud and Gundlupet in the State will be accompanied by Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines, which will print a ballot slip to show in whose favour the vote has been cast.
The introduction of the VVPAT comes in the wake of politicians doubts had been raised by politicians over the alleged tampering of the EVMs.
The VVPAT, a machine with a printing unit, which is connected to the EVM, will print a ballot slip soon after the voter exercises his franchise on the EVM. “The ballot slip containing the serial number, name and symbol of the chosen candidate will be visible to the voter for seven seconds,” said Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru D. Randeep, who is also the District Election Officer, during a demonstration of the VVPAT machine for the media in Mysuru on Saturday.
The candidate can see the slip through a glass case in the VVPAT for seven seconds. Then the ballot slip gets cut and drops into the drop box in the VVPAT machine and a beep will be heard.
“The voters will not be allowed to take the slip with them, to maintain confidentiality of the vote,” clarified D.M. Satish Kumar, General Manager of Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Company (CESC), who has been deputed to New Delhi to undergo training for installing and operating the VVPAT.
Though the VVPAT machines were used on a pilot basis in some booths in the five States where Assembly polls were held recently, Mr. Kumar said the Election Commission has now decided to use them in all the Assembly bypolls scheduled on April 9.
Each VVPAT, which runs on battery, can print 1,500 ballot slips from the pre-loaded paper roll. “The total number of voters in a booth will usually not exceed 1,200 or 1,300. But, even if the paper roll gets exhausted, there is provision reload it,” Mr. Kumar said.
In the event of a voter raising a dispute that the ballot slip did not indicate the choice made in the EVM, there is a provision for a “test vote” to be carried out by the poll official in the presence of representatives of different parties in the booth. “If the test vote disproves the voter’s contention, a FIR can be registered against the voter,” Mr. Kumar cautioned.
“For the 236 polling booths in Nanjangud (reserved) Assembly constituency, we have 355 VVPAT machines,” said Mr Randeep.
