VOTER VERIFIED PAPER AUDIT TRAIL (VVPAT)

Recently, the Supreme Court announced that it would soon address petitions for 100% verification of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, just ahead of the first phase of voting on 19th April 2024.

Highlights:

• The VVPAT machine is attached to the ballot unit of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), and provides visual verification for the vote cast by a voter by printing a slip of paper with the voter’s choice on it.
• The slip of paper with the candidate’s details is briefly displayed for verification behind a glass window, giving the voter 7 seconds, before dropping into a compartment below.
• Voters are not allowed to take the VVPAT slip home as it is used to verify votes in five randomly selected polling booths.
• The concept aims to enhance trust in the voting process by enabling physical verification of electronically cast votes, reassuring both voters and political parties about the accuracy of their votes.
• Following prototype preparation, field trials were conducted in Ladakh, Thiruvananthapuram, Cherrapunjee, East Delhi, and Jaisalmer in July 2011.
• It led to the approval of VVPAT by an expert committee of the ECI in February 2013.