25% EVMs should verified with VVPAT: AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday welcomed the Election Commission's decision to verify five per cent of electronic voting machines (EVMs) with voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT), but urged it to increase the number to 25 per cent.

The poll panel has decided to verify votes cast in 5 per cent of EVMs, selected randomly, by cross-checking them with VVPAT machines.

VVPAT is a manual slip generated after a person casts his vote in an EVM and it has details of the candidate for which the vote was cast.

AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said that increasing the percentage to 25 would enhance public trust in EVMs and added that the AAP had made this request earlier also.

Meanwhile, AAP leader Ashutosh said the party's primary demand was to go back to ballot paper.