Congress demands counting of all VVPATs in LS polls

PTI, Mar 15, 2024, 8:04 PM IST

Bengaluru: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Congress President M Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday demanded that all Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) should be counted, during the counting of votes.

He was responding to a question about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent statement that people are demanding that the upcoming elections be held using ballot papers and not EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines).

“This has been our demand since the beginning… You count VVPAT hundred per cent, that is our demand,” Kharge told reporters here. “Only a few VVPATs, you are counting. We are demanding that all the VVPAT should be counted. It will be very easy to know. It is not going to cost much.” VVPAT is an independent system attached with the EVMs that allows the voters to verify that their votes are cast as intended. When a vote is cast, a slip is printed containing the serial number, name and symbol of the candidate and remains exposed through a transparent window for seven seconds.

Thereafter, this printed slip automatically gets cut and falls in the sealed drop box of the VVPAT.