POLL PANEL TO CALL ALLPARTY MEET ON EVMS

CHANDIGARH: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will soon call a meeting of all political parties to assure them that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were tamper-proof and secure, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said on Saturday.

He also said that the commission intends to use Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in all coming elections to bring in more transparency and boost the confidence of people in the electoral process.

“We will soon hold an all-party meeting in which they will be told how our EVMs are non-tamperable and secured as per our administrative and technical safeguard system,” the CEC told reporters.

He was responding to questions about allegations levelled by various political parties against EVMs.

Recently sixteen opposition parties had urged the ECI to revert to ballot system, claiming the faith of the people in EVMs had been “eroded”.

Zaidi also said that the ECI is planning to “hold a challenge” for which time frame is being worked out. The electoral body is planning to throw an open challenge, asking anyone to try hacking its EVMs to dispel doubts of any misuse, it is learnt.

The CEC also said that the ECI had placed an order for the supply of VVPAT machines for use in elections. “For VVPAT, we have got all the funds. We have placed an order for the supply of 15 lakh VVPAT with two PSUs Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronic Corporation of India (ECI),” informed Zaidi. PTI