Size of VVPAT paper slips to be increased, says EC chief A K Joti

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to increase the size of the slip of the paper trail machines to make it more visible to the voters.

The electors see voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slip for seven seconds, which would be an acknowledgement receipt for the party they voted for in the election.

VVPAT is a machine which dispenses the slip with the symbol of the party for which a person has voted for. The slip drops in a box but the voter cannot take it home.

Announcing the schedule for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner A K Joti said the size of the slip would now be 10 cm by 5.6 cm to make it more visible for voters.

Himachal Pradesh will be the second state after Goa with 100% VVPAT coverage. The paper trail machines will be deployed along with EVMs in all the 7,521 polling stations, including 42 auxiliary polling stations at remote places.

Joti said VVPAT machines from one polling booth in each of the 68 assembly constituencies will be tallied with EVM results to check the vote count.

In case of a discrepancy in the results of the EVM and the paper trail machines, the outcome of the paper slip will prevail, a senior EC official later explained.

VVPAT will be used in all polling stations in all future Lok Sabha and assembly polls.