EC orders 20,000 paper audit trail systems

New Delhi, March 5:

The Election Commission has ordered 20,000 voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) systems, Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said Wednesday.

“The paper trail system was experimented with in two assembly constituencies in Nagaland and Mizoram. Induced by experimentation, we have ordered for the supply of 20,000 such machines,” Sampath said at a press conference at which he announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections.

“We are awaiting for the machines. As soon as they are received, we will use them in as many constituencies as possible,” he said.

Under this system, when a voter presses a button on the electronic voting machine to select the candidate he wants to vote for, a slip of paper bearing the name and symbol of the party will briefly appear for about 10 seconds, after which it fall into a secure box, thus maintaining a paper trail of all the votes cast.

(IANS)