Election Commission ducks issue of greater VVPAT usage
The Chief Election Commissioner has said that committee
on feasible threshold for VVPAT counting would submit its report before the
conclusion of the Lok Sabha election 2019. The Election Commission of India had
appointed a high-powered committee from the Indian Statistical Institute to devise
a ‘scientific formula’ to arrive at the right percentage and sample of VVPAT
slips that should be counted.
Of late, many political parties have demanded before
the Election Commission that 50% of the EVM results should be matched and
cross-checked with VVPAT slips. It has been argued that this would increase
voter confidence and make the electoral process more transparent. At present, VVPAT
slips in one randomly chosen polling station per constituency are tallied with
EVM results.
Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is an
independent system attached to an EVM that allows the voters to verify that
their votes are cast as intended. When a vote is cast, a slip is printed on the
VVPAT printer containing the serial number, name and symbol of the candidate
voted. This remains visible to the voter through a transparent window for seven
seconds. Thereafter, the printed slip automatically gets cut and falls into a
sealed drop box.
