The Election Commission, following an over seven-hour-long meeting with representatives of 42 political parties on Friday, said it would soon offer to them an opportunity to prove that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) could be tampered with, given the existing administrative and technical safeguards. The Commission also announced that henceforth, voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) would be used in all the Assembly and General elections.
Declaring that the “challenge” would indeed be held, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi said at the event that the parties would also be invited to demonstrate that the EVMs used during the recent Assembly elections were tampered with.
At the meeting, the Commission gave a detailed presentation on EVM and VVPAT, explaining their secure design, development and administrative processes. The concerns expressed by political parties on the issue of EVM security would be addressed through the “challenge”, said Dr. Zaidi. However, he did not announce the date.
Stating that henceforth all the polls would be held using VVPATs, Dr. Zaidi said the Commission had decided that up to a definite percentage, as fixed by the EC, paper trail slips would be counted from now on. He said the views and suggestions of all the political parties on issues of reforms would be considered.
The CEC also said there were no favours for the Commission and that it maintained equal distance from all the parties and groups, which had enhanced India’s reputation in the eyes of the global community. While most parties expressed satisfaction with voting machines, particularly because VVPATs will be used for greater transparency, some parties like BSP, Trinamool and PMK demanded re-introduction of the paper ballots. Several parties, including the RJD, suggested that copies of paper trail slips should be saved separately for simultaneous counting.
