EVM equipped with VVPAT to be used for Gujarat Assembly elections

NewsBharati    29-Sep-2017
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Gandhinagar, September 29: The Chief Electoral Officer and Principal Secretary of Gujarat, B. B. Swain, addressed a press conference in Gandhinagar on Thursday where he announced that the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used along with Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in the coming Gujarat Assembly elections. 

Gujarat will be the second state after Goa to be equipped with VVPAT and Electronic Voting Machine. Around 70,182 VVPATs are required for Gujarat polls covering all the 50,128 polling booths.

Swain said that during the poll, the voters will experience the transparency and would enjoy a new right due to VVPAT machines. He said that representation has also been made before the Election Commission to extend the timings of voting as VVPAT system takes 7-second time to register each vote. According to the latest electoral list, it has as many as 4.33 crore registered voters in the state. He further added VVPAT was also used on a pilot basis in 2012 in the state.

Swain said that the use of VVPAT is a challenging task to do. The controversy on EVM after the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, the election commission has decided to hold elections with EVMs connected to VVPAT. The voter can see the chit for seven seconds and that will contain the name, serial number on the ballot and the party of the candidate on it. All the chits will be kept in a black envelope and will be preserved for five years, Swain added.

Swain further added that the voter may face legal actions which can lead to six months imprisonment, if found to be making a false complaint, he/she may face legal actions which can lead to six months imprisonment.