100% Counting Of VVPAT Slips: INDIA Alliance Parties To Election Commission
Amidst several political leaders and experts have raised questions on the safety and genuineness of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Opposition’s INDIA alliance parties have submitted a detailed memorandum to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the top election management body in the country. A resolution from the INDIA bloc has said that the memorandum includes several specific questions on the design and operation of the EVMs.
One “simple” suggestion that the INDIA alliance members submitted to the ECI is to the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail or VVTPAT, an independent system, attached with the EVMs, that allows the voters to verify that their votes are cast as intended by them.
“Instead of the VVPAT slip falling in the box,” they demanded that “it should be handed over to the voter who shall then place it in a separate ballot box after having verified his or her choice”.
So, they demanded “100% counting of VVPAT slips should then be done”.
In India, the VVPAT system was introduced in 8 of 543 parliamentary constituencies as a pilot project in 2014 Indian general election. VVPAT was first used in India in September 2013 in Noksen (Assembly Constituency) in Nagaland, according to reports. The system, which enables EVMs to record each vote cast by generating the EVM slip, was introduced in all 543 Lok sabha constituencies in 2019 Indian general election.
The resolution by the INDIA alliance has also alleged that, “unfortunately, the ECI has been reluctant to meet an INDIA delegation on this memorandum”.
INDIA parties reiterated that there are many doubts on the integrity of the functioning of the EVMs and these have been raised by many experts and professionals as well.
They asserted that the proposed suggestion will “restore full confidence of the people in free and fair elections”.
Right after the assembly election results were out in the first week of December, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had come out with allegations against the EVMs. He posted the votes Congress received from postal votes and what it got from EVMs, and based on the data he claimed that the difference is huge and hinted at possible manipulation on EVMs.
