Cabinet clears Election Commission’s proposal to buy new paper trail machines

A VVPAT machine dispenses a slip — called a ‘Ballot Slip’ — with the serial number, name and symbol of the chosen candidate which a person has voted for. The voters see the voter-verifiable paper audit trail slip for seven seconds after which it drops into a sealed box, which would be proof of the party he or she has voted for.

The Centre has additionally picked Bengaluru-based M/s Bharat Electronics Ltd and M/s Electronics Corporation of India Ltd from Hyderabad to manufacture the units. It has directed the Price Negotiation Committee to negotiate the final unit price.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had asked the EC to give a tentative period of time by which it can use VVPAT machines in all polling stations. The EC had come under attack by parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress for allegedly deploying ‘tampered’ EVMs.