Gujarat’s Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat is among the seven constituencies of the country where voters will be able to verify their vote through a newly introduced ballot verification method - Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).
“VVPAT will be used in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha among the seven seats of the country,” said Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat Anita Karwal. VVPAT has to be attached with the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), which can generate a slip immediately after a voter casts his/her vote by pressing a button.
Like a bank ATM generates slip after the transaction, the voter will get an automated paper-slip through which it can be verified whether the vote has been counted or not. The generated slip will tell the voter to which party or candidate the vote has been given. It will also include the name of the voter, the constituency and the polling booth.
The Election Commission is confident that the VVPAT device can be useful for an accountable and transparent electorate system. Additional Chief Electoral Officer A. H. Manek feels the initiative can bring transparency in the poll system.
“The voter will get a print out immediately after he or she casts the vote. This can be helpful for the Election Commission to bring transparency,” Mr. Manek said. The initiative has been followed by a judgement of the Supreme Court in which it directed the EC to set up VVPAT system.
“The Supreme Court had directed the Election Commission to introduce VVPAT system while delivering a judgement on a petition filed by Subramaniam Swamy,” advocate Girish Das, who had filed a plea before the Gujarat High Court on the same issue, said.
