The Election Commission of India (ECI) has rejected the Union government’s appeal to include private players for manufacturing verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs) suggesting the move may “hurt public faith” in elections.
VVPAT units produce printouts that are handed to voters after they have cast their vote at an electronic voting machine (EVMs), dispelling doubts about EVM rigging.
The ECI has said that trusted public sector units such as Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) in Bengaluru and the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) should manufacture VVPATs.
According to an Indian Express report, the ECI said, “All VVPATs have to undergo a field-level check or FLC in the presence of political parties before polls. After FLC, engineers from the manufacturing company load election data into each EVM and VVPAT. Technical Expert Committee (TEC) was unsure if the general public would have the same level of confidence in elections if the FLC and data loading were to be done by a private agency.”
The EC added it is “not sure” if a private manufacturer would incorporate security features in its production process to ensure VVPATs are tamper proof and install the high-grade quality assurance infrastructure like BEL and ECIL.
In July 2016, the Union government had approached the ECI for letting private players meet production targets of VVPAT machines. Since then, the Law Ministry had sent three letters to press the ECI for its answer on the VVPAT matter.
In 2013, Supreme Court asked the ECI to introduce VVPATs in a phased manner.
ECI has also placed orders for close to 14 lakh VVPAT units with ECIL and BEL, the Indian Express report confirmed, citing official records it obtained this week under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.