A representative image of EVM.
Credit: PTI Photo
Ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Election Commission has launched a campaign across the country to dispel doubts about the credibility of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) devices and boost confidence of the voters.
The awareness programme focuses on imparting knowledge about the basic features of the EVMs and the VVPATs, explaining to the voters the step-by-step procedure of casting votes on the EVMs and educating them about their choices through the VVPAT slips.
The physical demonstrations during the programme allow voters across the country to have a deeper understanding of the functionality of the EVMs and the VVPATs and are “instrumental in dispelling misconceptions, boosting voter confidence, and ensuring a more informed and participative electorate”, a spokesperson of the EC said on Thursday.
Leaders of the opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A. had at a meeting on December 19 voiced doubts about the integrity of the functioning of the EVMs and wanted the VVPAT slips to be handed over to the voters allowing them to drop the slips in separate boxes.
The opposition alliance had also demanded 100 per cent tallying of the slips and the vote counts recorded on the EVMs.
The EC, however, dismissed the concerns in a reply to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s December 30 letter requesting the commission to allow a delegation of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners, Anup Pandey and Arun Goel, to put forth the views of the alliance on the VVPAT slips.
“Based on the outcomes of the elections conducted using EVMs, legal framework, established jurisprudence, technical security and administrative safeguards, the Commission has full faith in the use of the EVMs in the elections,” the commission wrote to Ramesh on January 5.
Ramesh, however, wrote back to the CEC, arguing that the commission had yet again failed to provide a "substantive response" to the "genuine concerns" of the I.N.D.I.A. over the EVMs.
The nationwide awareness programme on the EVMs and the VVPATs launched by the EC includes outreach and awareness activities in 3,464 assembly constituencies spread across 613 districts in 31 states and union territories, barring five states where assembly polls were held recently.
Over 3,500 demonstration centres and around 4,250 mobile vans have been set up to physically demonstrate EVM/VVPAT functionality to the public, the EC said in New Delhi on Thursday.
The Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) and the District Election Officers (DEOs) are also sharing updates on social media platforms to enhance the outreach of this awareness programme.
As per the EC’s standing instructions, the CEOs need to start a focused awareness campaign approximately three months before the tentative date of announcement of the schedule of the state assembly polls and the Lok Sabha elections by the poll panel. The commission also has a detailed Standard Operating Procedure for the use of EVMs for Training and Awareness purposes including public demonstration programmes, the EC stated on Thursday.