EC assures timely allocation of EVMs for Lok Sabha election, says it will ensure VVPATs in all polling stations

New Delhi: Assuring timely allocation of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) for the 2019 general elections, the Election Commission (EC) on Sunday said it was in the process of ensuring allocation of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) for over 10 lakh polling stations. The mandatory First Level Checks and training to District Officers are being ensured to meet the requirement of 100 percent VVPATs across approximately 10.6 lakh polling stations for the Lok Sabha election in 2019, it said. [caption id=“attachment_3395014” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of VVPAT unit. News18[/caption] With around 22.3 lakh Ballot Units, 16.3 lakh control units and nearly 17.3 lakh VVPATs to be used for the forthcoming elections, the poll panel said it is consistently reviewing the status of production and supply of EVMs and VVPATs by the public sector units. The poll panel on 26 September had said that it has enhanced the requirement of additional VVPATs from 125 percent to 135 percent considering the trend of failure rate of the machines in past elections, besides adopting improved hardware for them.