New Delhi: The Congress party, which is part of the INDIA opposition bloc, called out the Election Commission on the issue of the greater use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail in the election process and said not allowing for 100 per cent VVPATs is a 'terrible injustice' to the Indian voters.
Taking to his social media handle, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh posted on X, "The INDIA parties have been requesting for an appointment to meet the Election Commission since June 2023, on the issue of the greater use of VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) in the election process. Not allowing for 100 per cent VVPATs is a terrible 'ANYAY' on the Indian voter."
"On April 8th, 2019, the Supreme Court had requested the EC to increase the number of election booths that undergo VVPAT slip matching. The case is N. Chandrababu Naidu vs Union of India -- yes, the same Chandrababu Naidu who was once known as the high-tech Chief Minister. Mr. Naidu was then the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh," he said.
"The demand of the INDIA parties is that this number of VVPATs prescribed cannot be static but must increase steadily towards 100 per cent. The reluctance of the ECI to engage with the INDIA parties on this issue raises even more questions," he added.
"Shouldn't the ECI strive for greater accountability and transparency in a technology that it stands by so wholeheartedly? But of course, Naidu is about to migrate into the NDA, in the meanwhile. Maybe he can convince the Election Commission to give his erstwhile allies an appointment," said the post further.
Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verified paper record (VPR) is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballot less voting system.
A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results.
—ANI