EVM vs paper ballot: Can Pakistan's 'rigged' and delayed poll results serve as lesson for Indian politicians?

livemint.com:

Follow Pakistan Election Results 2024 Live here "EVM had paper ballots that could be counted separately by hand (like it is being done today) BUT it also had a simple electronic calculator/counter of each vote button pressed. Totals of every candidate would have been available & printed within five minutes of the closing of the poll. The entire effort that included more than 50 meetings at the Presidency alone was scuttled," Arif Alvi tweeted.

Moreover, there were several claims about elections being rigged in Pakistan despite the use of ballot papers for voting. An Electronic Voting Machine or EVM is a device used to electronically record and count votes cast in elections. It consists of the Ballot Unit (BU ), Control Unit (CU) and the later added Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

The VVPAT allows voters to verify that their votes are cast as intended. So, should Indian political leaders take note of this EVM concern flagged by Alvi? Over the years, many politicians in India have criticised the use of EVMs for polling during general and assembly elections. They have accused others of either hacking or tampering with EVMs.

The debate over the use of EVMs Vs VVPAT slips Vs ballot papers has been going on in India for a long. ALSO READ: Rigged elections in Pakistan: What's next for the near-failed state? Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had said last year that he has "opposed voting by EVM since 2003". He argued that "any machine with a chip can be hacked".

He rather demanded the handover of "the VVPAT slip in voter’s hand and allow him to see that the vote has also been correctly “printed"". He had said this in response to a suggestion that "counting of 100% vvpats" must be there. It "won’t take more than a day,"