Cabinet may decide on buying VVPAT machines ahead of 23 April MCD election

The cabinet may decide on buying Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines ahead of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, said news reports. CNN-News18 also reported that the Election Commission claims it has asked for 16 lakh paper trail machines. It also said that around Rs 3,000 crore will have to be cleared by the cabinet for 16 lakh VVPAT machines. [caption id=“attachment_3392134” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18[/caption] The Delhi High Court on Tuesday had declined Aam Aadmi Party’s request to use second-generation EVMs with paper trail in the 23 April civic polls in the national capital. Justice AK Pathak had refused immediate relief to the ruling party, saying that “nothing can be done at the eleventh hour”. “We cannot stay the election nor pass an order to use electronic voting machines which are not there,” the court had said while seeking a response from the Election Commission of India and the Delhi State Election Commission by Friday, the next date of hearing. The AAP and its candidate Mohammad Tahir Hussain have approached the high court for using second-generation EVMs attached with a VVPAT in the elections to the capital’s three municipal corporations. The court’s order came after State Election Commission counsel Sumeet Pushkarna opposed the plea on the ground that the MCD elections are slated for 23 April and changing all EVMs with VVPAT is not feasible in four days. The counsel said the EVMs to be used in the civic polls are the same that were used in 2015 Assembly elections, after which the AAP came to power. With inputs from PTI