Bihar assembly election 2020: First-time voter? Know how to cast your vote using EVM and VVPAT

PATNA: As Bihar goes to polls in the 1st phase of Bihar assembly election 2020 for 71 seats on Wednesday (October 38, 2020) amid strict COVID-19 safety protocols, here’s how you can cast your vote using EVM and VVPAT. 

EVMs were introduced in 1982 and have been in use since to conduct both general and assembly elections. The Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail, a later addition to the EVMs, provides a visual verification to the voter after the vote is cast.

The Bihar elections will be held in three phases with the first of the three-phase polling to be held on October 28. The polling for the second and the third phase will be conducted on November 3 and 7. Counting of all votes will take place on November 10.

The elections will be conducted through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

How to cast vote using EVM and VVPAT

The EVM has two parts - a control unit with the polling officer and a balloting unit inside the voting compartment for voters to record their votes.

Through the Control Unit of the EVM, the polling officer releases a ballot. This then enables the voter to press the button on the balloting unit against the candidate and symbol of their choice.

The VVPAT system attached to the EVM generates a paper slip and displays it for 7 seconds to allow the voter to verify that their vote is cast correctly before the slip drops into a sealed box.

After polling, when the votes are counted, the printed VVPAT slips from 5 randomly selected polling stations in each Assembly Constituency are matched against the EVM results.

The final result for the constituency is declared after the VVPAT matching process is completed.

In case of a discrepancy between the VVPAT count and the EVM results, the printed paper slips count is taken as final as per the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961.

How to check if EVM is working and vote has been cast?

As soon as the voter presses the 'blue button' against the candidate and symbol of his choice, the lamp against symbol of that particular candidate glows red and a long beep sound is heard. Thus, there is both audio and visual indications for the voter to be assured that his vote has been recorded correctly. 

In addition, VVPAT provides an additional visual verification in the form of paper slip to the voter so he can ensure that his vote has been correctly recorded for the candidate of his choice.

Documents required at the polling booth

Passport
Driving License
Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by
Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office.
PAN Card
Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR
MNREGA Job Card
Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour
Pension document with photograph
Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs and
Aadhar Card
Steps to check your constituency
Visit – https://www.nvsp.in/
Locate – Know Your Constituency Tab
Click on the tab, you will be directed to another page
Fill in EPIC number or address
You will also get to know your electoral officer and political party representative details.

Guidelines issued by EC for Bihar assembly polls

The Election Commission of India on September 25 had announced a series of extraordinary measures for the Bihar Assembly elections, which will be held in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora had said that this would likely be the biggest election exercise in the world in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.

1. The maximum number of voters per polling station reduced from 1,500 to 1,000.

2. Arrangements have been made for 7 lakh units of hand sanitisers, 46 lakh masks, 6 lakh PPE kits, 6.7 lakh face shields, and 23 lakh single use gloves.

3. The facility of 'postal ballots' has been extended to all those over the age of 80 and also those voters who are Covid-positive, and those who have been quarantined due to the infection.

4. The timings for polling have been extended by an hour. Polling will now continue until 6 pm.