Jharkhand launches special drive for awareness on EVMs, VVPATs

Jharkhand’s Chief Electoral Office launched a special drive on Wednesday to make voters aware about the functioning of EVMs and VVPATs, ahead of the parliamentary polls later this year, an official said.

The campaign will end on February 28 after covering all the districts, assembly segments and sub-divisions of the state, he said.

Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said recently a survey was conducted in which it was found that the level of awareness needed among voters regarding Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was “not as per expectations”.

“So, we decided to conduct a special awareness-cum-EVM demonstration campaign for common voters as well as people’s representatives of different political parties,” he said.

The awareness drive will be carried out at static camps and mobile demonstration vans.

During the day, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Rahul Kumar Sinha flagged off a mobile EVM demonstration van from Ranchi’s Morabadi ground.

“The van will travel across all seven assembly constituencies in the district. EVMs and VVPATs will also be exhibited so that voters could understand its functioning,” Sinha said.