On the eve of first round of polling in Gujarat, the Election Commission (EC) has reassured voters that electronic voting machines (EVM) and voters verifiable paper audit trails (VVPAT) cannot be tampered with.
There has been widespread fear among various political parties that EVMs can be hacked and may not record votes as cast by electors in the Gujarat polls.
The EC said in a statement on Friday that it has put in place an elaborate framework of administrative and security protocols and procedural checks-and-balances in Gujarat, which prevent any possible misuse of EVMs/VVPATs, or procedural lapses in their use, during the polls.
These safeguards are being implemented by it “in total transparency, with the active and documented involvement of political parties, candidates and their representatives at every stage, so as to build their confidence on the efficacy and reliability of EVMs and VVPATs”, it added.
The EC will deploy VVPAT machines in all the 50,128 polling stations in the State except auxiliary polling stations. It said 81,860 ballot units, 66,358 control units and 71,564 VVPATs will be used in Gujarat, it said.
Several measures
The EC said it has taken various measures to ensure the accuracy of the machines. For instance, it conducted a mock poll with a few votes on every functioning EVM at the time of first level checking.
The EVMs and VVPATs in Gujarat have been randomised twice, once for allocation of machines to Assembly constituencies and then again to polling stations in the presence of candidates or their representatives, before they were distributed for use in individual polling stations, said the EC.
Mock poll
On polling day, a mock poll will be conducted by casting at least 50 votes at every polling station by the Presiding Officer (PO) in the presence of the polling agents one hour before the start of actual polling.
After the mock poll, the PO will ascertain the results in the control units, count the VVPAT paper slips in the presence of the polling agents and confirm that the results tally for each candidate.
After the polls, EVMs and VVPATs will be sealed in their respective carrying cases and polling agents will also be allowed to put their signatures on the seals, which they can check for intactness before counting of the votes.