EC to introduce Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail

For the first time the Election Commission (EC) is introducing Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in 22 assembly constituencies in West Bengal.

VVPAT is a method of providing feedback to the voters using a ballotless voting system. A VVPAT is an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify if their vote was cast correctly. Along with voters this will help election commission to detect the irregularities. Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dibyendu Sarkar on Saturday said that in 22 Assembly constituencies the facility will be available where the voters will be able to see the candidate for whom they had casted their vote.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena will convene a meeting, through video conferencing, with the District Magistrates who are also the District Election Officer (DEO) and also the Superintendent of police in the districts.  He will hold a meeting with senior election officials in the state to take a stock on the poll preparation in the state. It was learnt that ahead of the visit of the full bench of the election commission, Saxena will review the poll preparedness and how the central forces have been used especially in the sensitive pockets. He may hold a meeting with the District Magistrates of the adjoining districts in the commission’s office in the city. Sarkar said that from December 1, 2015 around, 1,40,902 non-bailable warrant have been executed, whereas executions have been pending for 46,000 cases.  Execution rate has been improved. Around 3,84,218 liter of illicit liquor has been seized from various places, Sarkar maintained.