District in Odisha launches VVPAT awareness program ahead of 2019 polls

A drive to create awareness among voters about voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT), to be used in 2019 general and assembly elections, was launched by Koraput district administration in Odisha on Monday. As the VVPAT will be used for the first time in the district during the polls, the drive is aimed to give people a first-hand experience about it, officials said.

At least 30 special vehicles have been prepared -- six each for the five Assembly segments of the district -- and the vehicles are carrying required equipment like an electronic voting machine (EVM), control unit and VVPT, they said. Route charts have been prepared for the movement of these vehicles by the concerned sub-collectors and block development officers," said Koraput district Collector, K Sudarshan Chakravarthy. The vehicles will touch every revenue village of the five Assembly constituencies in the district within one month, he said.

When a voter chooses a candidate by pressing an EVM button, a paper slip containing the election symbol of the candidate gets printed, the collector said. "It is visible on the VVPAT screen for seven seconds and then automatically drops into the machine. Thus, the voter is sure that his vote has gone to the candidate he had voted for," Chakravarthy said. During the drive, people will be encouraged to cast mock votes and their queries related to VVPAT will be addressed by the officials present, he added.

If a voter finds that the election symbol printed in the paper slip is not the same as the one he had pressed, he should lodge a complaint with the polling officer, officials said.

(With inputs from agencies.)