Congress asks EC to ensure Gujarat polls free and fair, seeks more VVPAT time

New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) The Congress on Friday asked the Election Commission to take appropriate steps so that the forthcoming Gujarat assembly polls are "free and fair".

The party called for increasing time available for a voter to verify the vote cast by him in Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machine from the present seven seconds to 13 seconds. It also urged the poll panel to high quality printers and paper in VVPAT so that the impression on it does not go away in 15-20 days.

Terming the Gujarat elections later this year as "crucial in many ways", the party, in a memorandum to the EC, said there were some apprehension that the Electronic Voting Machines sent by the poll panel for the Gujarat Assembly elections are the same as used in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

It also urged the poll panel to clarify whether VVPAT machines will be used in all seats in the Gujarat polls, and suggested that the voters should be informed of their right to object to any wrong recording of vote.

Noting that ballot slip will fall into the VVPAT machines' drop box being visible to the voter for seven seconds, it sought that this time should be increased to 13 seconds.

The party also said that boxes having paper trails have to be properly sealed and preserved at least for 120 days along the video recording.

The party said if a candidate is not satisfied with the counting process, there should be a recounting immediately, and they be allowed to count the paper trails and compare it with the VVPATs.

The party said that final publication of voter list should be done at least 15-20 days in advance from the date of election notification and "unbiased officials" should be posted for polling duties.

The party also sought that CCTV cameras should be installed in each of the polling booths.

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