After Oppn protest, Cabinet clears EC proposal to buy new VVPAT-enabled EVMs

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the Election Commission (EC) proposal to buy new Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)-enabled EVM machines.

The Cabinet had earlier allotted money twice for the Election Commission to buy new voting machines.

Since June 2014, the Commission has given at least 11 reminders to the government seeking funds for VVPAT machines.

Last year, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi drawing his attention to the funds needed for the machines.

The Supreme Court has asked the Commission to give a tentative time frame by which it can use VVPAT machines in all polling stations.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress had attacked the Election Commission for allegedly using "tampered" EVMs, which they claimed was responsible for the BJP’s stupendous win in the Uttar Pradesh polls.

VVPAT is a machine which dispenses a slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home.

The voters see voter-verifiable paper audit trail slip for seven seconds, which would be an acknowledgement receipt for the party they voted for in the election.