The Election Commission of India (ECI) has set up a committee to examine further strengthening of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) regarding Do's and Dont's on use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines during elections. The Commission has also decided to make the First Level Checking (FLC) process employed while testing Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPAT machines stricter. It further states that the Commission has also adopted hardware improvement recommended by Technical Expert Committee (TEC) to prevent auto shutdown of VVPAT due to excessive light.
The ECI had set up two special teams after reports of malfunctioning of few VVPAT machines were reported during mock polls and actual polls on May 28 in 49 polling stations across five assembly segments of Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency where by-elections were held. The ECI in a press note issued here yesterday stated that as per the teams preliminary reports there were two major technical reasons for malfunctioning which were failure of contrast sensor and failure of length sensor on the VVPAT machines. It argues that the errors are mainly caused by excessive exposure to illumination in the polling station.
Taking note of the malfunctioning, the poll panel has asked the manufacturers and TEC to suggest additional design improvements as well as suggestions on any layout changes in the polling stations to prevent any excessive exposure to illumination in future. The manufacturers have also been asked to do a detailed technical analysis once the VVPATs are free from the Election Petition period of 45 days. The ECI has further issued directions to strengthen and streamline the training of polling officials to minimize failures due to human errors.
It may be recalled that on May 28 during polling in several polling booths across the Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency several complaints were received about VVPAT and EVM machines malfunctioning. The ECI then had ordered re-poll in 49 polling stations in assembly segments of Bhandara (SC), Sakoli, Arjuni Morgaon (SC), Tirora and Gondiya on May 30. Maximum number of complaints of VVPATs and EVM malfunctioning were reported from Bhandara (SC) and Gondiya assembly segments.