The Opposition Congress party has raised issue of defective Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines and decided to knock the doors of the Gujarat High Court and filed a petition with the HC.
last week officials of Election Commission had found over 3,500 VVPAT machines defective during the First level Checks (FlC). Raising concern over it Congress has sought direction of the court. The petition is likely to come on board on Monday for hearing.
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has sought directions from the HC that the upcoming assembly polls in the State should be held in fair manner. According to GPCC defective devices should be removed with immediate effect and must not be used so that a particular party would get benefit.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) decided to provide VVPAT facility in Gujarat after pro-quota female leader from Patidar community Reshma Patel knock the doors of the apex court post Uttar Pradesh poll result earlier this year in which BJP emerge victorious with thumping majority. Interestingly, just few days back Patel has joined the saffron party.
Sources in EC said that the 3,550 defective VVPAT had been rejected. During the upcoming assembly polls, VVPAT will be used in all the polling booths. The assembly polls in Gujarat will be held in two phases — 9th and 14th December 2017. EC has obtains VVPAT from two different companies — Bangalore-based Bharat Electronics ltd (BEl) and Hyderabad-based Electronic Corporation of India (ECIl).
“The devices were found with malfunctioning sensors, broken plastic parts and errors in connection with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The EC immediately asked for an additional 4,000 VVPATs for replacement,” said an official with the EC, adding that the election machinery was committed to hold fair election in the State and no stone will leave unturned to ensure it.