In the backdrop of a large-scale failure of the Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines in the recent bypolls to four lok Sabha seats, including Kairana and Bhandara-Gondia, and 10 Assembly seats, the Election Commission has decided to update the design of the machines and is also introducing new features like small hood on the sensor to protect them from any over exposure to light.
Besides, it has also decided to use humidity resistant paper rolls for high humid areas to prevent machine failures in the extreme conditions in future and to make the election glitch-free. According to Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat, the EC would now procure humidity-resistant paper for humid areas for VVPAT machines.
The decision was taken after the Electronics Corporation of India limited (ECIl) which manufactures VVPAT machines suggested that the EC should procure paper which does not soak humidity in area with high humidity. The EC’s technical committee also found direct light falling on the contrast sensor of the paper trail machine led to the malfunction. The committee has also advised to make some changes in the existing VVPAT machines.
Rawat said, “A small hood on top of the contrast sensor and paper roll that does not soak humidity are some of the ingenious measures adopted to prevent failure of paper trail machines in extreme conditions”. “We have now procured humidity-resistant paper for humid areas,” Rawat said.
The CEC said the committee also found that a certain type of paper roll soaked humidity, resulting in the failure of the paper to move properly on the spool of the VVPAT machine while printing the results. “We made simple changes. A small hood was installed on the contrast sensor so that even if it is placed under direct light, it would not malfunction. The electronic voting machine (EVM) is an electronic device which does not have issues with heat and humidity but the paper trail machine has electro-mechanical parts which affect its function,” he explained.
VVPAT or paper trail machine is a device which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip appears on a small window for seven seconds and then drops in a box. But the voter cannot take it home. The VVPAT machines are used in all polling stations. But as of now, results of EVMs and VVPATs are matched in one polling station per constituency.
There have been demands to increase the number of polling stations where EVM and VVPAT results are matched to dispel fears about electronic voting machines being ‘hacked’ to favour a particular political party.
Rawat said there have been delays in the delivery of paper trail machines as the Technical Experts Committee appointed by it analyses the technology stabilisation issues in the initial batches and incorporates essential design improvements.
“This ensures we don’t face the problems later,” he said. While all required EVMs — 13.95 lakh ballot units and 9.3 lakh control units — will be delivered by September 30. 16.15 lakh VVPATs will also be delivered well before the end of November, he added.
The EC ordered 1.3 lakh VVPAT machines on June 20, besides the 16.15 lakh machines it has already ordered. This will increase the election body’s reserve from 25 to 35 per cent. The total number of VVPAT machines ordered has now gone up to 17.4 lakh. Over 11 per cent of the 10,300 VVPAT machines across 10 States had developed faults and had to be replaced during the May 28 bypolls. The fact-finding report of the EC has attributed the malfunctioning of VVPATs in the Kairana and Bandara-Gondiya parliamentary bypolls last month to light-induced failure of contrast and length sensors.
In its statement, the EC had said the failure was the fallout of “excessive exposure to illumination in the polling station”, and added that the PSUs that manufactured the VVPATs and the poll panel’s technical expert committee had been asked to improve the design of the machines and suggest layout changes in polling booths.
