Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), a method of
providing feedback to voters using a ballot less voting system, was in news on
23 February 2016.
It came in news, after Assam’s Chief Electoral Officer
announced that VVPT will be introduced in 10 constituencies (around 2400
polling booths) in upcoming assembly polls. He said that Dispur and Jalukbari
assembly constituencies in Kamrup Metro district will be included in the VVPT
trial.
VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) that allows voters to verify that their votes
are cast as intended and can serve as an additional barrier to changing or
destroying votes.
The printer-like apparatus linked to the Electronic Voting
Machine (EVM) will generate a receipt showing serial number, name and symbol of
the candidate. This will confirm the voter that his/her vote reached to the
person to whom it was casted.
The receipt, once viewed, goes inside a container linked to
the EVM and can only be accessed by the election officers in rarest of rare
cases.
The system allows a voter to challenge his or her vote on
basis of the paper receipt for the first time. As per a new rule, the booth
presiding officer will have to record the dissent of the voter, which would
have to be taken into account at time of counting.
The idea of using VVPAT was for the first time suggested
during an All Party Meeting on 4 October 2010. Subsequently, the Union
Government issued a notification on 14 August 2013 amending the Conduct of
Election Rules, 1961, to enable the Commission to use VVPAT with electronic
voting machines.
For the first time Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail
(VVPAT) with Electronic Voting Machines was used for the Noksen Assembly seat
in Tuensang district of Nagaland in September 2013.
