Cong seeks paper-trail EVMs for Bathinda
Friday, 04/04/2014
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140404/punjab.htm#4
Chandigarh/Bathinda :Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Sukhpal Singh Khaira has sought the allocation of VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) EVMs for the super-sensitive Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency.
Bathinda is one among 15 constituencies declared super-sensitive across the country. In a communiqué to Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath, Khaira said, “The Election Commission has placed an order of about 20,000 VVPAT machines to be selectively used in different states on an experimental basis. They will be launched in Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal.” He accused the Badals of polluting the electoral system through the use of money, drugs and muscle power.
“As the seat is being contested by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is the Chief Minister’s daughter-in-law and the Deputy Chief Minister’s wife, it will be appropriate to allocate VVPAT EVMs for the constituency,” he said.
In Bathinda, a day after his namesake Manpreet Singh, also from Badal village, filed his nomination from Bathinda, People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) chief also demanded allocation of paper-trail EVMs for the constituency.
Manpreet is the joint candidate of the PPP, Congress and the CPI. He said the EVMs with a print option gave a voter the right to have a printout of his vote. “The voter can verify that his vote has been cast correctly,” he said.
How they work
As a voter presses an EVM button, a paper slip comes out of the VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) attached to the EVM
The slip exhibits the name and symbol on which the vote has been cast
The voter can, thus, verify that his vote has been cast correctly
