India Morning News
Mumbai: State Election Commission has said that VVPAT machines cannot be used in local body elections right now. The reason is simple there’s no rule or law that allows it yet.
Most local elections are held under a multi-member ward system, where each voter can vote for 3 to 4 candidates. Because of this system, new machines that can work with VVPAT need to be developed. A technical committee made up of all state election commissions is studying how this can be done, but their final report isn’t ready yet.
Commission said that EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) were officially allowed in local elections in 2005, but VVPAT use was never added to those rules.
Once state government updates laws and technical committee submits its report, a decision about using VVPAT in future local elections will be taken.
So far, VVPAT has only been used in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, not in local body polls.
