Lok Sabha elections 2024: What are VVPAT slips & what is the INDIA bloc's demand on this?
Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) paper slips in elections. In the existing practice, only five randomly selected EVMs in each assembly segment of a Lok Sabha seat are verified through counting of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) paper slips. The Congress party hailed the notice as an “important first step" and said the matter should be decided before the Lok Sabha elections 2024 begin.
Opposition parties in the INDIA bloc have been demanding complete (100 per cent) counting of VVPATs to increase public confidence in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. The opposition alleges that the poll panel had refused to meet a delegation of party leaders from INDIA bloc on this issue. In its order on April 1, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta sought a response from the poll panel and Union government.
The petition was filed by Karnataka-based lawyer- activist Arun Kumar Agrawal through advocate Neha Rathi. Follow all Live Updates on Lok Sabha Election 2024 Here The petition sought inter-alia counting of all VVPAT paper slips in polls. While pronouncing the order, the bench tagged the petition with another plea filed by election watchdog, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Earlier, the poll panel had cited practical difficulties in verifying all VVPATs in the ADR petition. “If simultaneous verification is done and more number of officers are deployed for counting in each assembly constituency, then complete VVPAT verification can be done in matter of 5-6 hours," the petition said. It said that the government has spent ₹5000 crores on the purchase of 24 lakh VVPATs, but VVPAT slips of only 20,000 VVPATs are verified.
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