Light-sensitive VVPATs may pose challenge during polls

Thrissur: Rising mercury in the state is set to pose a new challenge to polling officials. Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines are light sensitive and may go off if direct sunlight falls on them for long hours. When contacted, chief electoral officer (CEO) Teeka Ram Meena conceded this and said the election commission is taking measures to prevent such machine failures and to replace the defective machines.
According to Meena, the VVPAT machines and electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be mostly kept in areas where direct sunlight will not fall on them. The poll officials have been made aware of such possibilities during the pre-poll training period itself. High room temperature and humidity can affect both the EVMs and VVPAT machines, he said.

The CEO said there are about 25,970 polling stations in the state. Specially designated engineers will be monitoring the functioning of the VVPATs on a zonal basis in each constituency, he said.

The election commission has allocated 30% VVPAT machines and EVMs as reserve. No attempts will be made to rectify defective machines during the poll process. Such machines will only be replaced with fresh ones. If the ballot units or control units in EVMs are found to be defective they will also be replaced, Meena said.

Thrissur collector T V Anupama, who is also the district election officer, appealed to the voters to carry a bottle of water with them while coming to vote in view of the extremely hot weather prevailing in the state. She said special pandals will be erected in the polling booths to provide shade for the voters.