The PMK will seek an audit or cross-checking of May 16 polling as recorded by the electronic voting machines and on the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system, said party leader Anbumani Ramadoss. The party will also seek an amendment to the Representation of the People Act giving the Election Commission sufficient powers to conduct the polls in a free and fair manner like the powers to disqualify a party or a candidate for bribing voters and other acts. “We will soon petition the Election Commission to audit the paper trail system (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) that was installed in 17 assembly constituencies during the May 16 assembly polls in Tamil Nadu,” former union minister and PMK leader Ramadoss told IANS. “We demand reverting to paper ballot system. The voting machines can be tampered with in couple of minutes. The system can be programmed in such a way that every fifth vote will be in favour of a particular party,” Ramadoss said.
Alongside the voting machine, another box-like item with a paper roll was kept in the polling booths in the 17 assembly constituencies.
Once a voter pressed the button on the voting machine to register his vote, he was able to see the symbol getting printed in the paper roll in the adjacent box.
“Instead of paper getting stored inside that machine, the voter should be able to tear it off and put it inside another box so that cross verification is possible,” Ramadoss said.
Full Article: PMK to seek audit of voter paper trail | Business Standard News.