On September 4, Nagaland’s Noksen Assembly constituency will become the first in the country to have an election conducted through an EVM fitted with paper-trail system. The Election Commission on Saturday decided to test the machines for the first time in the by-election to this Assembly seat as a precursor to the 2014 general elections, when paper trail fitted EVMs will be employed in full force.
It will be a significant step as the EC wants to test the waters before taking the final dip. Being a new technology, the Commission has decided to hold special meetings with the candidates to brief them about the use of the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) system. Separate sessions will also be held to make the electors friendly with the use of the new machines.
On how such a system would work, the EC had assured the Supreme Court that the secrecy of the vote cast by the elector would not be compromised. On pressing the button, the machine will generate a paper strip visible only to the voter for a few seconds. The paper trail would get collected in a box fitted with the machine. This is a marked improvement over the previous model as EVMs were not tamper-proof and the voter was uncertain on whether the machine had registered the vote correctly.
The EC’s technical expert committee has so far conducted several field trials of the new machines after its final design was approved by the committee on February 4 this year. As per EC’s own estimate, over 13 lakh VVPAT machines have been kept ready at a cost of Rs 1,692 crore to be deployed in the 2014 general elections. An EC source said that in subsequent by-elections too, the machines will be put to use to ascertain its effectiveness in varied climatic conditions.
After doubts emerged over the EVMs in its present form, there was a strong demand raised to fit the EVMs with a paper trail or revert to the ballot system. A petition filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy is pending consideration with the Supreme Court which has fixed the matter for hearing on August 22 to follow up on allocation of funds and the necessary amendments in law to the Conduct of Election Rules 1961 to pave way for the new machines.