EC to introduce VVPAT countrywide on experimental basis

The Election Commission will introduce Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) countrywide on experimental basis to ensure a fair Lok Sabha poll.The VVPAT is a paper slip which will come out of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) once a voter casts his vote, showing which symbol and candidate the vote has been cast for.The slip will be automatically dropped in a sealed box attached to the EVM for use by the EC, Chief Electoral Officer in West Bengal Sunil Gupta today said.

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The VVPAT system has already been demonstrated to the representatives of all recognised national and state political parties.The Commission has placed an order for about 20,000 VVPAT machines and those will be deployed in states selectively depending on their availability.The VVPAT has been developed jointly by the Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore and Electronics Corporation of India Limited.After several rounds of field trial and necessary modification, the Technical Expert Committee in its meeting on February 19, 2013 finally approved the design of VVPAT system.The system was demonstrated to the representatives of political parties who expressed general satisfaction and made some suggestions which, the EC said, would be considered by the Expert Committee.