The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are being set up with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system at all the polling centres of Raipur lok Sabha constituency which goes to polls in the third and final phase of polls to be held in seven lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh on Thursday.
The VVPAT is a paper slip which will come out of the EVM when a voter casts his vote. The slip will show on which symbol and candidate the voter cast his vote. The Election Commission has selected a total of seven lok Sabha constituencies across the country to introduce the new system for the first time in the country on an experimental basis and Raipur lok Sabha seat is one of them.
The slip from the VVPAT will automatically drop in a sealed box attached to the EVM for use by the Election Commission. It can only be seen by the concerned voter. He can know that the vote he cast went to the candidate or not. For Raipur lok Sabha seat, the Election Commission has brought 2785 units of VVPAT from Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India limited (ECIl) which it has developed jointly with Bangalore-based Bharat Electronics limited (BEl).
In case a voter finds the vote he or she cast did not appear on slip accurately he or she will be allowed to cast his or her vote again. For that the voter needs to submit a declaration to the Presiding Officer under Section 46 D of ‘Conduct of Election Rule 1961.’ Under this Act, there is a provision of imprisonment upto six months or Rs 1,000 penalty or both in case a voter’s claim is found to be false.