SHILLONG: Chief electoral officer, Frederick Kharkongor has said that 110 voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines allotted by the election department to Meghalaya will be used exclusively for raising awareness among voters about the machines.
VVPATs will be introduced for the first time in the state Assembly elections early next year.
Stating that there should be various demonstration centres to acquaint citizens with the new machines, Kharkongor requested East Khasi Hills deputy commissioner, PS Dkhar to set up a full-fledged demonstration centre here.
He was speaking at the state-level training and awareness campaign on VVPAT at the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, East Khasi Hills, here on Monday.
The programme focussed on the preparedness for elections while the returning officer (RO) was asked to have a better understanding and usage of VVPAT in the interest of the public in general.
“The Election Commission has already sent 110 VVPATs to the state. Of them 25 are with DC, East Khasi Hills, 10 with DC, Jowai which includes awareness for the sub-division of Amlarem, five at Khliehriat (East Jaintia Hills), 10 at Nongpoh (Ri-Bhoi), nine at Nongstoin (West Khasi Hills) and five at Mawkyrwat (South West Khasi Hills),” he said.
In Garo Hills, he said eight VVPAT machines have been allotted to Resubelpara (North Garo Hills), 20 to Tura (West Garo Hills) while six each have been earmarked for districts of Williamnagar (East Garo Hills), Ampati (South West Garo Hills) and Baghmara (South Garo Hills).
The chief electoral officer said that the 25 VVPATs earmarked under East Khasi Hills also cover Sohra.
With the introduction of VVPATs in the electoral process, he said there would be five polling officers with one appointed exclusively for looking after the machines.
Penalties involved
However, despite the verification of the candidates, Kharkongor emphasized that it is not a frivolous right and anyone who has a doubt has to apply in writing if there is no proper recording (of the vote).
“If found that the claim (of no proper recording of their vote) is correct, then the procedure will follow in which the presiding officer will take appropriate steps. However, if the claim is found to be frivolous then there are certain penalties,” he said.
“His name will be recorded in the register of votes. He has to sign and certain penalties that will follow,” he added, adding that the claims need to be exercise with a great deal of caution.
VVPAT campaign
Kharkongor informed that there are 3082 polling stations in the state and that the election department would roll out an extensive and exhaustive campaign on raising awareness on VVPAT.
VVPAT is an addition to the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) family which will make the election process more robust and transparent, election officials said.
The election department has launched a series of street theatres in the Khasi-Jaintia region in certain market places which will inform the voters on ethical voting and VVPAT.
Kharkongor said intensive publicity among the voters was indispensable to encourage them to see the printed slip which will appear for only seven seconds and help them verify that their vote has been recorded and gone to the candidate of their choice.
Technical aspects
Highlighting the technical aspects of VVPAT, additional chief election officer, T. Lyngwa said that the VVPAT uses thermal paper-roll that cannot print more than 1500 slips and hence the number of voters in each polling station should not be more than 1400.
Following the normal routine of pressing the button on the EVM against the chosen candidate, in addition, the VVPAT prints a slip that will display the name, serial number and election symbol of the candidate through a transparent window of the machine, allowing the voters to verify their vote.
In this case, the voter will be able to verify their vote by seeing the slip for only seven seconds, following which the VVPAT cuts it and drops it automatically into the sealed box.
