Bawana bypoll: 7 VVPATs attached to EVMs show error, replaced

EVMs equipped with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail are being used for first time

Seven Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) devices attached to electronic voting machines used during the Bawana bypoll on Wednesday showed errors after which they were replaced, a senior official said.

"None of our EVMs malfunctioned, only some of the VVPAT equipment attached to them had to be changed. Seven of them (VVPATs) went into error mode, so they were immediately replaced," Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer Chandra Bhushan Kumar said.

Over 2.94 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the Bawana constituency, in which the EVMs equipped with VVPAT are being used for the first time.

VVPAT-equipped EVMs are being used at all 379 polling stations set up across the Assembly seat in the north-west Delhi area which is reserved for the SC category.

The VVPAT carries the paper trail left by a voter after he or she has exercised their franchise. It is a mechanism for providing feedback to voters using a ballot-less voting system.

The trail is available to be seen for seven seconds from the transparent surface above, before it falls into a storage box with a beep. In the trail, a voter can see the name of the candidate and the poll symbol chosen by him or her.

About 35.44 per cent of the votes have been polled in the bye-election, voting for which got underway at 8 am.

Eight candidates are in the fray for the election in which the AAP, the BJP, and the Congress are locked in a triangular contest. The counting will take place on August 28.

All three major parties are eyeing a victory in the bypoll which is being seen as the barometer of their political influence.

The number of male, female, and third gender electors are 1,64,114, 1,30,143, and 25, respectively. The average number of voters per polling station stands at 776.

Out of the 379 polling stations in the constituency, 311 have less than 1,000 registered electors, while 68 have more than 1,000 registered electors.

The overall polling percentage for Delhi in Assembly elections in 2013 and 2015 was 65.63 per cent and 67.12 per cent, respectively. The corresponding polling percentage in Bawana constituency had stood at 61.14 and 61.83 per cent respectively.