Thanjavur: With the parliament elections coming closer, officials are gearing up to face the polls and have started training officials in the district on Wednesday. With Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) to be used, do’s and don’ts were taught to Assembly-level Master trainers at the collectorate on Wednesday in a training session for them in the working of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPATs.
Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), Thanjavur, Suresh, said VVPATs were used only up to 10 percent in the previous elections. In the coming elections, it will be utilised 100 percent. While voters can know whether the vote they cast has gone to the symbol they have chosen, VVPAT registration can also be used to count votes in case of any technical snag in ballot unit while counting, the RDO said.
He also said that M3 model machines (new ones) are now going to be used in the coming elections. These machines are stand alone machines with power pack. No electric or other connectivity is needed. They have secured designs and are programmed one time and cannot be hacked through wireless communication. Later in the day, the master trainers had hands-on training of EVMs and VVPATs.
