25% EVMs should be verified with VVPAT: AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday welcomed the Election Commission's decision to verify 5 percent of EVMs with VVPAT but urged it to increase this to 25 per cent.

The poll panel has decided to verify votes cast in 5 per cent of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) selected randomly by cross-checking them with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

VVPAT is a manual slip generated after a person casts his vote in an EVM and it has details of the candidate for which the vote was cast.

AAP leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said that increasing the percentage to 25 would enhance public trust in EVMs and added that the AAP had made this request earlier also.

Another AAP leader, Ashutosh, said the party's primary demand was to go back to ballot paper and increasing EVMs cross-checked with VVPAT to 25 per cent was their second demand.

--IANS

nkh/mr