EC places order for 16.15 lakh VVPAT machines for 2019 polls

April 23, 2017

New Delhi, Apr 23: The Election Commission has placed an order to purchase 16.15 lakh voter verifiable paper audit trail machines which could be used during the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 to impart a greater degree of transparency to the poll process.

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On Friday, the Election Commission issued letters of intent to two public sector undertakings – Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) and Bharat Electronics Limited – for purchase of 8.075 lakh paper trail units each by September 2018.

The Commission's action came two days after the Modi government sanctioned Rs 3173.47 crore for the purchase of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) against the backdrop over a controversy over malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines and allegations of incorrect recording of votes favouring a particular party.

'This will enhance transparency and uphold the voters’ right to know which party he or she has voted for, thereby increasing voters’ confidence in the free and fair electoral process,' Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said in a statement here.

The Commission said the VVPAT machines will be manufactured by both the PSUs only as per the design approved by it. The design will be based on recommendation of the Technical Experts Committee on EVMs constituted by the Commission.

“The Commission shall closely monitor the production of VVPATs for timely delivery well before General Elections 2019,” a statement by the poll authority said.

Sixteen parties had recently petitioned the EC to revert to paper ballot system for greater transparency. The BSP, the AAP and the Congress had attacked the EC on the issue of alleged tampering of EVMs.

The VVPAT machines leave a paper trail which helps an elector confirm whether the EVM has faithfully registered the vote has been cast to a particular candidate.

Between September, 2013 and March this year, the Commission has written 38 times to the government on the procurement of VVPATs, according to an affidavit filed by the poll panel in the Supreme Court on the issue.

The idea of an additional layer of transparency for the satisfaction of voters in the form of a ‘voter verifiable paper trail’ was suggested by the political parties in a meeting taken by the ECI on 4th October, 2010.

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News Network
March 22,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 22: An FIR has been registered against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over a provocative hate post on social media, Election Commission officials said on Friday.

The move comes after a complaint filed by officials of the poll body and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) that the Bengaluru South MP, who is also the President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, had in a post apparently targeted a minority and spread enmity between two communities.

He also made a similar post on March 19 on X and YouTube which went viral. He has 1.3 million followers on X, thereby influencing the voters and disturbing the communal harmony between the communities, it further alleged.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered at Halasuru Gate police station on March 20 under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act, the officials said.

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News Network
March 16,2024

Mangaluru: In the wake of complaints regarding middlemen menace, sleuths of Lokayukta on Friday, March 15, conducted a raid at the Mangaluru Urban Development Authority. 

The Lokayukta team found unaccounted money and several files, which were not disposed of for a long period.

Lokayukta SP CA Simon said that the Lokayukta has received complaints that middlemen have been interfering in the MUDA office, and files pertaining to the public are not being cleared on time.

A raid that commenced in the evening on March 13, lasted for 18 hours. During the raid, Lokayukta officials found cash in a bag in MUDA office, and also with officials and others. MUDA officials could not inform the source of money found in their office, the SP said.

Further, he said that many people gathered at the MUDA office during the Lokayukta raid, and have raised complaints about the harassment at the urban development authority. “We have gathered evidence for MUDA officials carrying out file disposal processes through brokers on phone calls. The investigation on the MUDA network will be continued,” he said.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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At least seven people have been killed when Israeli warplanes bombed an emergency center in southern Lebanon near the border with the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories with air-to-surface missiles, according to Lebanese security sources.

Two sources, speaking on condition of anonymity said early on Wednesday that the strike targeted the Islamic Group’s emergency and relief center in Lebanon’s southern village of Habbariyeh.

Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese group closely linked to the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, said in a statement that “a number” of people had been killed, and called the strike a “heinous crime.”

An official from the group said “seven rescuers” were killed in the aerial assault.

Another Jamaa Islamiya official, also requesting anonymity, said a dozen medical staff were in the emergency center at the time of the strike, adding that bodies were being pulled from the rubble.

Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Mrad said “the Israeli aggression on Habbariyeh adds to the long list of Israeli crimes.”

Israel has been launching air strikes against Lebanon since the beginning of its onslaught against the Gaza Strip in early October.

An Israeli strike knocked down part of a building in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh on February 14, killing seven members of the same family, including a child, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said. A boy initially reported missing was found alive under the rubble.

In a separate Israeli attack, a woman and her two children were killed in the village of as-Sawana in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli regime launched its devastating hostilities in the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the territory’s Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

Israel's raids have resulted in retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The movement has vowed to keep up its retaliatory operations as long as the Tel Aviv regime continues its onslaught on Gaza.

The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed at least 32,414 people, most of them women and children. Another 74,787 individuals have also been wounded.

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