the goan I network
MARGAO
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Goa has received a brand new consignment of 2,000 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines from Hyderabad as the State Electoral Office has plans to either phase out the old VVPAT machines or keep them in reserve in the coming election.
A trailer containing the VVPAT machines arrived in the State from Hyderabad and unloaded the machines “ 1000 each for North and South Goa district. In South Goa, the machines were unloaded and stored in the Old Collectorate building on Thursday under police protection.
Goa’s requirement of VVPAT is pegged around 2,000 machines “ 1,642 machines for each of the polling stations and around 300 reserve, taking the total number of machine requirement to around 2,000.
In the 2017 Assembly election, the Election Commission of India had ordered the use of VVPAT machines in all the polling stations across the State following representations made by political parties and individuals to ensure foolproof and tamper-proof election.
Joint Electoral Officer, N S Navti told The Goan that the State has not spent any money on the procurement of the brand new VVPAT machines, saying the entire cost of the 2,000 machines has been borne by the Election Commission of Goa.
“Even the vehicle transporting the VVPAT machines was provided by the Goa Electronics Ltd,” he said.
The Joint Electoral Officer said that after Goa had used VVPAT machines in all the polling stations in the 2017 elections, these machines are then requisitioned by the Election Commission for the Assembly election in Gujarat and other states. “Right now, Goa election office has only around 200-300 VVPAT machines in its possession. We can keep these machines reserve and hand over them to the Election Commission if they are requisitioned for election in other states,” Navti added.
He pointed out that Goa requires around 1,642 VVPAT machines to cover all the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in all the polling stations. He, however, said
that the Election office is required to keep 20 per cent machines reserve to meet any eventuality.
The VVPAT is a concept providing feedback to the voters, allowing them to verify their vote cast via the Electronic Voting Machine.
The VVPAT is a system wherein a paper slip is printed through the machine when a voter casts his vote by pressing a button on the EVM.
