Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) facility would be used in the Assembly by-elections at Ater in Bhind district and Bandhavgarh in Umaria district of the state scheduled for April 9.
However, The Congress party that is demanding next assembly elections in the state through ballot paper is not satisfied with the move and is firm on its demand for voting through ballot.
A total of 830 EVMs with VVPAT facility would be used in both the assembly constituencies. Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Saleena Singh said VVPAT was being used to ensure more transparency, and if the experiment succeeded, the facility will be used in the Assembly elections in the state next year too.
After pressing the button on EVM, a VVPAT slip will be generated and the voter will have seven seconds to check the voting information printed on it, Singh said. The slip would be preserved for record. EVMs with VVPAT were used in several places in the recently concluded elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the CEO said.
Meanwhile, after scrutiny of nominations, 23 candidates are left in the fray in Ater constituency and ten in Bandhavgarh. Two nominations each were rejected in both the places. Counting of votes will take place on April 13.
The by-poll in Ater Assembly constituency is being held following the death of senior Congress leader Satyadev Katare.
The Bandhavgarh seat fell vacant after the incumbent MlA and state minister Gyan Singh was elected to the lok Sabha from Shahdol seat in a by-poll in November last year.
However, The Congress party that is demanding next assembly elections in the state through ballot paper is not satisfied with the move and is firm on its demand for voting through ballot. Former Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Arif Masood who is leading the campaign while talking to The Pioneer said, “The ECI move to use VVPAT in by-polls is to burst the opposition movement, but we stick to our demand and our agitation would continue till our demand of voting through ballot paper is not met.”