Chidambaram welcomes government's decision to buy VVPATs

Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Wednesday welcomed the government's decison to buy paper trail machines for EVMs saying "it's a victory for Congress, opposition parties and democracy".

"Welcome government's decision to allot money to buy VVPATs. Clear victory for Congress, Opposition parties and democracy," Chidambaram tweeted.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Election Commission's proposal to buy paper trail machines for electronic voting machines (EVMs), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Talking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Jaitley said a total of 16,15,000 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units would be needed for the EVMs as per the Election Commission estimates.

"The Election Commission had been consistently demanding VVPAT machines to hold elections. The Cabinet approved the demand today. This would cost Rs 3,173.47 crore," he said.

--IANS

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