VVPATs to be used in Gujarat, all future elections: CEC

Agartala, Nov 29 (PTI) Chief Election Commissioner A K Joti today said Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) gadgets with Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) would be used for next month’s Assembly polls in Gujarat and in all future elections.

The machines run on battery and cannot easily be tampered with, the CEC said at a press conference here.

The Election Commission would buy new EVMs and VVPATs before the 2019 Lok Sabha election, he said.

The CEC also said EVMs and VVPATs would be used in all the 3170 polling stations in Tripura where Assembly elections are due early next year.

The final list of Tripura voters would be published on January 5 and the date for the state Assembly election would be announced after that, he said.

According to the draft list, 25.05 lakh people, including 12.30 lakh women, are eligible to vote in the state in 2018.

He said names of more than 28,000 ineligible voters including fake, dead and foreign voters were deleted from the list.

Joti said adequate Central security forces would be deployed to ensure the smooth conduct of the Tripura elections and the 856-km long border with Bangladesh would be sealed.

A high-level EC delegation led by Joti held meetings with representatives of different political parties, the chief secretary, director general of police and chief electoral officer here today.

The EC delegation had arrived here yesterday to oversee preparations for next year’s Assembly elections.