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Bandra East candidate demands VVPAT for fair by-polls

Dermatologist and one of the independent candidates contesting from Bandra East constituency Dr Tushar Jagtap has demanded that the VVPAT-enabled EVMs must be used in the April 11 by-poll to ensure fair polls.

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Dermatologist and one of the independent candidates contesting from Bandra East constituency Dr Tushar Jagtap has demanded that the VVPAT-enabled EVMs must be used in the April 11 by-poll to ensure fair polls.

Jagtap, who is also an activist and a social worker, has made this demand in a letter to the election authorities written on March 29. He had earlier given the same suggestion in an all-candidate meeting with the election observer last week.

Congress stalwart Narayan Rane and Shiv Sena's Trupti Sawant, whose husband Bala Sawant's death necessitated the by-poll, are among the six candidates competing in the constituency, which houses the residence of Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.

The apex court, in its October 8, 2013, order, had stated that the Vote Verifier Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system with the EVMs would ensure "free and fair" polls and help in "sorting out disputes".

Jagtap, who has been campaigning for VVPAT for years, pursuing the matter with the Election Commission, justified his demand, citing the SC order, and said, "The EC must use VVPAT in the larger interest of transparency and strengthening the democratic process of elections. As this is a by-poll and very few EVMs will be used, VVPAT can be easily implemented."

Views of Rane and Sawant on this couldn't be obtained immediately.

The VVPAT system, which enables EVMs to record each vote cast, was introduced in eight of the 543 parliamentary constituencies in the April-May 2014 polls. In the October 2014 state assembly polls, VVPAT was used in a few polling booths in 13 constituencies.

What is VVPAT?
The VVPAT system is a printer with a drop box, kept next to EVM. When a voter cast his/her vote on the EVM, the VVPAT unit flashes the serial number, name of the candidate and the party symbol to confirm the voter's choice. A paper comes out of the drop box for a few seconds so that the voter can view it. But the voter does not get to keep the slip for 'security reasons'. In case of any dispute, the candidates can apply for counting of the paper slips.

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