To rule out any possibility of manipulations of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during Punjab Assembly polls, the Election Commission has procured the same from other States.
Moving a step forward to enhance transparency in the poll process, the Commission will use EVMs fitted with Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) — a system aimed at increasing electorate’s confidence that their vote goes without error to their desired candidate.
“EVMs procured from other states will be used in the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections…All the EVMs have come from other States, like Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Bihar. We will not use old EVMs,” said the State Chief Electoral Officer VK Singh on Monday.
He said around 35,000 EVMs have been brought from other States which will be used in Punjab Assembly polls.
At the same time, Singh has also asked all the political parties to check for themselves the EVMs in order to clear their doubts about the possibility of any manipulations of the machines.
The development assumes significance as the Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, just a day before, had sought use of EVMs from outside the state to rule out the possibility of any manipulations by the “local officials at the behest of their Akali bosses” in the coming elections in Punjab.
The former Chief Minister had said he had written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) that EVMs from outside the state should be used in the ensuing assembly polls.
Rubbishing Capt Amarinder’s remark regarding possibility of rigging EVMs during the elections next year, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday said the machines were handled and managed by the ECI and “there is not even the remotest possibility of tempering with them by the State or even the Union Government”.
At the same time, he said that they hardly have any problem if the Election Commission brings the EVMs from other States. “All EVMs are fitted with VVPAT whereby voters can get vote receipt,” said Singh.
VVPAT is an equipment connected to the EVM that generates an immediate paper trail once the vote is cast. Once generated, the slip, containing the name and symbol of the candidate, is visible through a glass for seven seconds before being deposited in a compartment within the machine.
The slip was preserved for later use to tally in case there is a dispute in the final result.
Such ballot units were introduced in 2014 lok Sabha elections when it was used in eight of the 543 parliamentary constituencies. The Congress party had also demanded to use VVPAT EVM’s for the “super sensitive” Bathinda lok Sabha constituency during 2014 polls.
Singh said, “At present, first level checking of EVMs are going on to see whether machines are properly functioning or not. We want to appeal to all political parties to come and spend time in checking the machines.”
“In the first stage of checking, 1,000 votes are casted on EVMs to check whether each machine is functioning efficiently or not. Another test of EVMs is further conducted after candidates are finalised,” he added.
He added experts from Bharat Electronics limited (BEl), which manufactured the EVMs, would also come and check the voting machines.