The Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system is being inducted for the first time in elections in the State.
The system would bring in a greater level of transparency and help check any malpractice that might result from meddling with the electronic voting machine. There have been instances of failure of EVMs.
Also, there is no mechanism under the existing system to verify, on a later date, whether a particular vote cast by a voter had gone to the intended candidate, a top official associated with the induction of the system, told The Hindu .
Twelve constituencies in the State are understood to be brought under the new system. The constituencies belong to urban centres such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kannur, Alappuzha and a few other towns, the official said, unwilling to go into the details. The process of drawing up training sessions for electoral officers, prior to introduction of the system, is under way. Trials have already been done.
The exercise is being conducted in pursuance of a direction from the Supreme Court to the Election Commission of India, in a special leave petition filed earlier by former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy. Challenging the Election Commission’s argument that EVMs could no be tampered with, Mr. Swamy had contended that EVMs used in India were not of international standards.
Pointing out that all electronic equipment were open to hacking, he sought safeguards such as paper-back-up, paper receipt, or paper trail, as mandated in certain countries such as the U.S. The present recount system fails to assess whether the vote of a particular voter has been appropriately assigned by the EVM.
The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, had been amended to facilitate implementation of the court order. The Ministry of Law and Justice notified the amendments in 2013. VVPAT was used on a trial basis in by-elections in the Noksen constituency in Nagaland later.
The court had permitted the commission to introduce VVPAT in a phased manner as the project cost was estimated at Rs.1,690 crore.
Malpractice that might result from meddling with the EVM can be prevented
