Changing VVPAT count protocol not practical: EC to 22 opposition parties

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Wednesday rejected the demand of 22 political parties to count paper trail machine slips before the counting of votes polled in electronic voting machines (EVMs), saying it has not been found “feasible”.

A day after a delegation met the EC, it issued a statement, saying after two rounds of in-depth discussions Wednesday and Thursday, “it has neither been found possible nor feasible to accede to this demand” in the overall context and especially in view of a Supreme Court judgment of April 8 which had directed the poll panel that the random selection of VVPATs will be subject to the process of slip verification as per the EVM guideline in force.

The guideline broadly states that the slip count should be held at the end of counting of votes polled in EVMs.

Ahead of counting of votes for the Lok Sabha election, opposition parties Wednesday slammed the EC for rejecting their demand to tweak the counting of voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips, with the Congress calling it an “Enfeebled Commission” while BJP president Amit Shah terming their plea as “unconstitutional”. (AGENCIES)

 

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