Political party representatives were apprised of the operations of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) machines, which would be used for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The first round of direct inspection by representatives of political parties and public was organised at the Vellore Collectorate.
The machines brought from Bengaluru were opened in front of the Collector S.A. Raman, Sub-Collector K. Meghraj and Tahsildar (Elections) Balaji on Monday. The election officials and engineers answered various questions raised about the machines and their functions by political party representatives.
An Election Officer explained that when a voter presses a button in the EVM, a paper slip is printed through the VVPAT. The slip contains the poll symbol and the name of the candidate. It allows the voter to verify his/her choice. After being visible to the voter from a glass case in the VVPAT for seven seconds, the ballot slip will be cut and get dropped into the drop box in the VVPAT machine and a beep will be heard. VVPAT machines can be accessed by polling officers only. These machines have crossed many tests by engineers and the officials reiterated that EVMs cannot be tampered with.
