Slips from VVPAT machines should be used to double check on results, Arvind Kejriwal said.
The use of VVPAT or Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail machines should be allowed along with the Electronic Voting Machines during the upcoming civic polls in Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party requested the Delhi High Court today. The appeal comes amid the huge controversy over the use of EVMs. Opposition parties, including AAP, contend that EVMS were tampered with in the recently held assembly elections and demand that the Election Commission reverts to the use of old-style ballot papers.
In absence of ballot papers, slips from VVPAT machines should be used to double check on the announced results, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has said. This, he has said, is the easiest thing the Commission can do to win back people's faith.
AAP had already moved a request letter regarding this to the Election Commission. But in absence of a response even a week before elections, the party said it wants the court to intervene.
VVPAT machines dispense a paper slip that helps voters verify if their vote has been correctly recorded by the EVM.
The Election Commission, which has backed the EVMs through the controversy, has issued a challenge to non-believers to try and tamper with the machines. Mr Kejriwal, who has an engineering background, has said he can think of 10 ways in which the machines can be hacked.
The complaints against the EVMs started after a controversial demonstration of a machine Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, which was allegedly used in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Pointing to the video demonstration by an election official, the opposition parties claimed it shows EVMs were tampered to favour the BJP.
The Election Commission had said the machine in question was an unused VVPAT machine that was kept in reserve during the elections in Uttar Pradesh. The Commission has also pointed out that the 45-day cooling off period necessary for an EVM is not essential for a VVPAT machine.