Starting Wednesday, electronic voting machines (EVMs) along with voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines will be taken across the city so Delhiites can see how VVPAT, which is being used across the board for the first time, works, ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh flagged off a “democracy on wheels” vehicle that has an EVM and VVPAT machine and will visit all polling locations in the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency.
One vehicle for each of Delhi’s 70 Assembly constituencies will be deployed, the CEO said. Apart from the vehicles, election officials will showcase the machines at static locations across Delhi so voters can familiarise themselves with the process of using a VVPAT, he said.
The first of these demonstrations was carried out at a popular mall in South Delhi Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday.
“We have launched a Delhi-wide awareness campaign so that voters know how to use a VVPAT machine. It will carry on till February-end as the election process is likely to begin in March. Through the mobile vans and static locations, we are aiming that all voters in Delhi are made aware of the ballot unit, and the control unit of the EVM and the VVPAT,” the CEO said.
He added that a “VVIP” or voter verification information programme would be launched by the Election Commission all over the country soon.
The District Magistrate and District Election Officer of the East Delhi and Shahdara districts, K. Mahesh, said electric-rickshaws will be rolled out as well for awareness drive as the truck flagged off on Wednesday will not be able to traverse narrow and congested bylanes. With 19.42 lakh voters in the East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, the awareness drive will aim to cover all 324 polling locations, he said.
The public will be able to use the VVPAT attached with the EVM in the vehicle to see if their vote has been registered properly. After pressing the button for a particular candidate on the EVM, the user will be able to see a paper slip being generated in the VVPAT for seven seconds to verify the vote. The slip will show a serial number, and the name and symbol of the candidate selected, before falling into a bin.
After allegations from Opposition parties that EVMs had been tampered with and the ruling-BJP had been the beneficiary in State elections in 2017, the Election Commission of India had decided in 2018 to roll-out VVPAT in 100% of the polling stations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a first.
