EC to conduct 'simulated polls' to check EVM paper trail

Acting on the suggestions of political parties, the Election Commission will conduct a field trial of paper backup in the EVMs in a "simulated election" at five locations on July 24.

The field trial of 'Vote Verifiable Paper Audit Trail' would be held in Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir) Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya), East Delhi (Delhi) and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan).

The decision to go in for a field trial has been taken by the EC following the recommendation of the expert committee to which the issue has been referred to earlier.

The commission has requested the national and state parties to get involved in the trial process actively and also witness the trial to have a first hand experience of the system, the EC said in a press note.

Several political parties, during a meeting with EC in October, had suggested the introduction of Voter Verifiable Paper Trail for further verifiability in the system.

The EC had also referred the issue to the Technical Expert Committee, headed by P V Indiresan, former director of IIT, Madras for examining the issue and making recommendations.

The committee had held several rounds of meetings with BEL and ECIL, two public sector units manufacturing EVMs.

On the direction of the committee, the two public sector units had prepared a prototype of the VVPAT system and held a demonstration before the committee and the EC.

"The committee has now recommended that the prototype should be tested in field in extreme environmental conditions to get an effective assessment. The trial should be in real election like conditions," the EC said.