PANAJI: The 2017 state assembly election in Goa will witness upgradation of the electoral process in the state with the introduction of the Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine, thus providing feedback to voters immediately after they have cast their votes. This new exercise will require time between 16 and 20 seconds for every voter to cast his or her vote.
VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines/ ballot units, designed to allow voters to verify that their vote has been cast correctly, so as to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results.
Coming out with this information during a demonstration of the machine to the editors of the local newspapers as well as television channels, state Chief Electoral Officer Kunal informed that VVPAT machines will be used for the first time in Goa, although it has been already put to use in places like Delhi, during the assembly election.
The VVPAT is a part of the set of machines, with the VVPAT and the ballot unit placed inside the voting compartment, while control unit and display unit placed outside this compartment and to be used by the presiding officer. Once the presiding officer, by operating the control unit sets the voting process in motion, the voter would be able to press either any one of the button corresponding to the candidate of his or her choice, or the NOTA (None of the Above) button. Soon, a paper slip with the number of the button, name of the candidate and his election symbol will appear behind the display glass of the VVPAT, and soon fall into a sealed container on its lower part.
“The voter can read the matter on the paper slip, directly interpret his or her vote, and if the number of button pressed by him does not correspond to the information on the particular slip, lodge a complaint with the presiding officer,” informed Kunal, pointing out that the returning officer would be consulted in such a case, and if the complaint is found to be genuine, he or she would be given a second chance to cast vote in the presence of the authorities and polling agents. “However, if the complaint is found to be false, then the voter lodging the complaint can be prosecuted,” he added.
It was also informed that the VVPAT is a very sensitive machine and in case it receives a severe jerk then the sensors of the machine could be damaged, in turn harming its calibration. The office of the state electoral officer has already made a provision for 25 per cent extra VVPAT machines, in case of emergencies.
On the day of counting of votes, the seal on the container of the VVPAT would be broken and the paper slips inside stored in an envelope. Furthermore, if there is a valid demand from a candidate – especially in case of wafer-thin victory margin – for recounting, then these paper slips would act as a backup for electronic counting.
The VVPAT can hold a paper roll, which can print up to 1,500 paper slips, and the number of voters casting their votes at any of the polling booths in the state is less than 1,500.
Brushing aside the doubts as to whether the VVPAT machines could easily trace the candidate to whom a voter has cast his vote, Kunal said that VVPAT machines are standalone machines, and have no connectivity to any other device, and therefore, no one can access such details from it.
Speaking further, the state Chief Electoral Officer said that his office intends to run a series of contests during the pre-election period in the state, so as to spread public awareness about the polls. “We hope to get a retired justice to judge the entries,” he mentioned, noting that the theme of the competitions would be ‘Ethical voting.’
It was also informed that the Office of the State CEO is in the process of identifying its ambassadors, so as to spread awareness about the election, and these ambassadors would be apolitical personalities.
The final publication of state electoral rolls would be done on January 5, 2017.