No provision for use of VVPATs in local body polls: Maharashtra SEC

The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) has said there is no provision in the laws or rules governing local body elections for the use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines.

The Opposition parties have demanded that the upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra be conducted using VVPAT machines to ensure transparency in the voting process.

If the deployment of VVPAT machines is not feasible, the elections to rural and urban civic bodies should be held using ballot papers, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vijay Wadettiwar had said.

Elections to various local bodies in the state, including the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, are to be completed by January 2026.

The SEC in a statement on Wednesday said that except for a few exceptions, almost all local body elections in the state are conducted under a multi-member ward system.

The Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC), comprising all State Election Commissions across the country, is studying the development of voting machines compatible with VVPAT attachments for such multi-member systems, it said.

The committee's final report is yet to be submitted, and therefore, the use of VVPATs in local body elections is currently not feasible, the SEC said.

The provision for using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in local body elections was incorporated in the respective acts and rules in 2005. However, there is no legal provision regarding the use of VVPATs, it said.

The local body polls in Maharashtra are conducted under provisions of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949, the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965, the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961, and the Mumbai Village Panchayats Act, 1958, the SEC said.

It further clarified that amending these acts or rules does not fall under its jurisdiction.