The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to respond to a petition filed by 21 Opposition parties demanding the random verification of at least 50% electronic voting machines (EVMs) using Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in every Assembly segment or constituency.

What is VVPAT?

• VVPAT stands for Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail
• The VVPAT system is a new initiative of the Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections.
• In the VVPAT system, when a voter presses the button for a candidate of his choice in the electronic voting machines (EVM), a paper ballot containing the serial number, name of the candidate and poll symbol will be printed for the voter.

• It is intended as an independent verification system for EVM designed to
  • Allow voters to verify that their votes are casted correctly,
  • Detect possible election fraud or malfunction and
  • Provide a means to audit the stored electronic results
• After being visible to the voter from a glass case in the VVPAT for seven seconds, the ballot slip will be cut and dropped into the drop box in the VVPAT machine and a beep will be
• VVPAT machines can be accessed by polling officers