Cabinet clears EC proposal for paper trail machines
Team Udayavani, Apr 19, 2017, 2:24 PM IST
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet today cleared a proposal of the Election Commission to procure paper trail machines for use during future elections. The decision comes in the wake of growing demands from opposition parties for holding all future elections using paper trail machines along with EVMs, to clear doubts about votes cast.
The clearance was given by the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the proposal of “procurement of VVPAT units” after a brief discussion. The EC has sought Rs 3,174 crore in all for procuring over 16 lakh paper trail machines to cover all polling stations in the country.
The Cabinet has so far cleared two tranches of Rs 1,009 crore and Rs 9,200 for the Commission to buy new electronic voting machines (EVMs). Since June, 2014, the Commission has given at least 11 reminders to the government seeking funds for VVPAT machines. Last year, Chief Election Commissioner SNA Zaidi had written to the Prime Minister drawing his attention to the funds needed for the machines.
The Supreme Court has asked the Commission to give a tentative timeframe by which it can use VVPAT machines in all polling stations. The EC says two PSUs — ECIL and BEL — need 30 months to produce the over 16 lakh VVPATs.
Sixteen parties had recently petitioned the EC to revert to paper ballot system for greater transparency. The BSP, the AAP and the Congress had attacked the EC on the issue of alleged tampering of EVMs.
The VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home. The voters see voter-verifiable paper audit trail slip for seven seconds, which would be an acknowledgement receipt for the party they voted for in the election.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
Centre scraps ‘no-detention policy’ for classes 5 and 8 students who fail to clear year-end exams
3-year-old girl falls into borewell in Rajasthan
Centre scraps ‘no-detention policy’ for classes 5 and 8 students
Apologise for always insulting Ambedkar instead of doing drama: BJP to Cong on campaign against Shah
Farmer who threatened to commit suicide asked to cough up Rs 9.9 lakh by police for security arrangements
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
Centre scraps ‘no-detention policy’ for classes 5 and 8 students who fail to clear year-end exams
Mumbra woman gets life in jail for killing son’s wife, his mother-in-law
Indian buyers still prefer physical dealerships over online mediums to purchase cars: Survey
Derogatory remarks row: Karnataka legislative Council chairman says no recordings available
‘Send Sheikh Hasina back to country’: Bangladesh writes to India
Thanks for visiting Udayavani
You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.