Udupi, (The Hindu): These will be used with EVMs in all five Assembly constituencies in the district for the upcoming elections

A demonstration of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) was held at the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Saturday.

The VVPATs with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used in all the five Assembly Constituencies in Udupi district during the Assembly elections.

Speaking to presspersons on the occasion, Priyanka Mary Francis, Deputy Commissioner, said that there will be a ballot unit, a control unit and a VVPAT unit in every polling station this time.

The secret is known
With the VVPATs, the voters will know for whom they had voted. They can see the paper trail in the VVPAT unit for seven seconds.

During the counting of votes, the paper trails of one station will be randomly selected for checking. If there was a close contest, the VVPATs could also be checked.

But it was the Returning Officer, who would take a final call. On the Ballot Unit of the EVM, the serial number, the name of the candidate, his or her photo and symbol would be displayed.

The demonstration of functioning of the VVPATs will be held in all urban local bodies and rural local bodies so that the people came to know about its functioning and could clarify their doubts.

It will be held in Town Panchayat Hall in Saligrama (10 to 11 a.m.), Municipal Council Halls in Kundapur (12 p.m. to 1 p.m.), Udupi (3 p.m. to 4 p.m.) and Kaup (5 p.m. to 6 p.m.) on April 1.

Similarly the demo of VVPATs would be held in Gram Panchayat Halls in Hosangadi (10 a.m.), Hallihole (11.30 a.m.), Yadamoge (1 p.m.), Ajri (3 p.m.) and Karkunje (4.30 p.m.) on Sunday.

To a query, Ms. Francis said if people were holding marriages or birthday parties and if any politician was expected to visit them, the authorities had to be informed. Three Election Officers would be joining duty here on Sunday and this would speed up the process of getting permission for holding of any public functions in the district, Ms. Francis said.