Poll panel holds demos to allay doubts about EVMs

The Election Commission of India (ECI) held four programmes in the city on Sunday to allay public fears about the functioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs). It also demonstrated the workings of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines that will be put to use in all the 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka for the first time.

The programme was held at four places: Cubbon Park, JP Park, Sankey Tank and Lalbagh West Gate. The commission also organised street plays to raise awareness about elections and an oath-taking programme on voting for students and youth.

At the Lalbagh West Gate programme, Sanjiv Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, explained how the VVPAT machine works.

"The VVPAT machine attached to an electronic voting machine generates a paper slip with the name of the candidate and his/her symbol for whom an elector votes. The voter can see his/her voting details on a small screen for seven seconds on the VVPAT machine."

He continued: "The EVMs with VVPAT machines
are battery-operated standalone machines with no Internet, Bluetooth or mobile links and cannot be operated or controlled by any remote system. The public need not have any doubts about these machines."

Before the polling day, the poll panel will conduct three demonstrations of the EVMs and VVPAT machines for all political parties, he added.

The commission also plans to hold an election awareness drive across the city.

Awareness drive

"We will hold awareness programmes in parks, malls and other public spaces over the next month to create awareness about elections," said N Manjunath Prasad, BBMP Commissioner and District Election Officer.

The ECI is setting up a 24-hour call centre to help the public make poll-related complaints during the election season. The telephone number, 1950, will be toll-free. Callers can ask questions about elections and voting. They will later get SMSes and phone calls about the action taken on their queries.