Oppn wants VVPAT machines at all UP polling stations

LUCKNOW :The opposition parties on Wednesday urged the Election Commission (EC) to install Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines at all polling stations across the state for the Lok Sabha election.

They put forth this demand when an Election Commission team led by chief election commissioner Sunil Arora met the representatives of several political parties here on Wednesday to get their views regarding the preparation for the election. The EC team began its three-day visit to the state capital on Wednesday.

Leaders of the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), CPI (M) and Trinamool Congress participated in the meeting.

Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said his party urged the EC to use VVPAT at all the polling stations in the 80 Lok Sabha constituen- cies in the poll. The VVPAT should be foolproof and any fault in machines should be corrected immediately and voters should get slips after casting votes, he said.

The Congress delegation led by Shiv Pandey urged the commission to increase the polling hours in view of the use of VVPAT.

As polling with VVPAT took time, voters should be given ample time to exercise his franchise, he said.

A Bharatiya Janata Party delegation led by RPS Rathore urged the Election Commission (EC) to include VVPAT slips in the counting of votes to make the polling, as well as counting of votes, transparent.

The Bahujan Samaj Party delegation led by the party’s state unit president RS Kushwaha said along with VVPAT, the Election Commission should ensure there was no use of unfair means in the election.

Chief electoral officer (CEO) L Venkateshwar Lu said the commission will also hold meetings with senior state government officers to review the election preparations.