Patna: Various opposition parties have expressed their concerns about the use of electronic voting machine (EVM) and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines in the 2019 general election before the Bihar chief electoral officer and gave several suggestions for conducting free and fair polls in the state.

The objections and suggestions were put forward by representatives of 11 political parties, including Janata Dal United (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI-ML, CPM and others in the state at a workshop organised by the Bihar chief electoral officer in Patna on Thursday. They gave around 30 suggestions.

"Some political parties had some apprehensions about the use of EVM and VVPAT machines in the coming Lok Sabha elections. We tried to address their concerns and also asked them to drop in at my office anytime to clear their doubts. Engineers from public sector Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) demonstrated to them how these machines were highly secure and tamper-proof," Bihar chief electoral officer H.R. Srinivasa told The Telegraph on Saturday.

Srinivasa added that due to the random allotment of EVMs by the Election Commission, nobody knew where or at which booth a particular machine would be used.

"Prior to randomisation, 'first level checking' of the machines are being done and they are being sealed, signatures are put on them, and they are put in the strong rooms while being videographed. Everything is put under the cover of CCTV," Srinivasa said.

Since VVPAT machines will be used at all polling stations this time to allow the voters to see where their vote is going, representatives of a couple of political parties demanded that apart from counting of votes cast in the EVM, the paper slips generated by VVPAT machines should also be counted to make the voting system foolproof.

"Today people have doubts over EVMs. Almost all developed nations still use paper ballots during franchise. We demand that VVPAT slips at all polling booths should be counted and tallied with votes cast via EVMs. This will bring transparency and restore the trust of people in the electoral process," Congress spokesperson Saroj Tiwari, who attended the election workshop, said.

Srinivasa said as of now the EC has taken a decision to count VVPAT slips at one polling station in every Assembly constituency in the coming polls and tally it with EVM results of that particular polling station.

Srinivasa said suggestions pertained to creating more awareness about operations of EVMs and VVPATs among the public, curbing money and muscle power in polls and government initiatives to facilitate voting by differently-abled persons so that they are not influenced by parties that help them in casting votes.

Srinivasa said one hilarious suggestion by a political party was to ban mentally-challenged people from exercising their franchise, which was shot down because that would be against the law that allows all citizens to vote. The suggestions given by the political parties are being compiled and will be sent to the Election Commission.