New Delhi:
Thirty-six constituencies in Bihar will have EVMs armed with the voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) during the forthcoming Assembly polls in Bihar.
The EC has ordered that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), post-2005-version, from Maharashtra and Jharkhand and VVPATs from Haryana, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Delhi and Tamil Nadu be "shifted" to Bihar for the purpose, sources said today.
VVPAT is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. An EVM will have a small attachment to it which after pressing the button for a desired candidate, will print that name on a paper. It will be stored inside the machine and can be used in case of any controversy over the final result.
Some of the Assembly seats which will have these machines at select polling booths include Bhagalpur, Katihar, Purnia, Munger, Saharsa, Rohtas, Begusarai, Aurangabad, Buxar, Kishanganj, Jahanabad, Nawada, Sitamarhi, Samstipur, Araria, Jamul, Vaishali, Patna and Siwan among others.
The 243-seat state Assembly is scheduled to go to polls during October-November and the full bench of EC led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi will travel to Patna later this week to review the poll arrangements.