New EVMs to have paper trail: BEL

New Delhi: Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will henceforth generate paper trail of the ballot cast through it, making the election process safer and tamper-proof, defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), making the EVMs said in New Delhi today. “EC has given us its requirement for EVMs and work is going on to incorporate new features”, BEL chairman and managing director Anil Kumar said, addding the machines would be ready for use in another six months.[caption id=“attachment_187951” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The modification is on. Reuters”]  [/caption] “The software in the EVM will be modified and a printer will be attached to it. When you cast a vote, the serial number and some data will be generated in the form of a printout. It is to ensure that there is no malpractice in the voting system,” Kumar said. The printouts will be used later to cross check the voting data stored in the EVMs. Kumar said the proposal is still at the trial stage and next round of tests would take place in the coming months. “We have already conducted the second round of trials, we will be seeing the response and it will be further modified. It could be ready in another six months time,” he said. On whether some of the new machines would be used or tested in the coming elections, he said, “These will not be used in the coming elections. We got the proposal about five months back and first time there was a malfunctioning because of the temperature.” Talking about other features in new EVMs, he said the machines will be more rugged and smaller in size but with more computing power. PTI