Mangaluru: After casting the vote on the electronic voting machine, a voter has to look at the VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) displaying the printout containing the serial number, party symbol and the photo of the candidate he/ she has chosen. This printout is displayed in the VVPAT for a period of seven seconds before it gets into the connected box.

The working of the EVMs and VVPATs was demonstrated by Sasikanth Senthil S., Deputy Commissioner and District Electoral Officer, to reporters here on Tuesday. A separate session was held for representatives of political parties.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Senthil said use of VVPAT in the Assembly elections clears doubts in a section of people about the working of EVMs. After a person has cast his/ her vote, the VVPAT generates the printout. “Voter has seven seconds to see the printout and verify the details,” he said.

If the voter finds any mismatch, Mr. Senthil said the voter can point it out to the the presiding officer. The officer will take a written declaration under Rule 49 (M) from the voter about the allegation and then allow him/ her a test vote. “If the mismatch is still noticed, then the voting will be stopped,” he said.

Mr. Senthil said all the EVMs and VVPATs for the district have been tested in the presence of representatives of political parties between February 20 and March 14. On the polling day,

Mr. Senthil said the presiding officer will commence the voting after conducting a mock poll.

He said on the counting day, the officials will randomly choose one polling booth per each Assembly constituency where the officials will count the slips in the VVPAT box as against the votes secured by a candidate, which will be displayed on the EVM.

The Election Commission will do this for other booths if a candidate or their party raises suspicion over voting in those booths.

Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer M.R. Ravi, who heads the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation Committee, said the officials would conduct awareness programmes from Monday at the polling booth level to give hands-on experience to voters about the EVM and VVPAT.

Mr. Senthil said people can submit Form 6 for inclusion of names in the electoral roll till April 14. A special State-wide enrolment drive will be held on April 8.

Voters can SMS the EPIC number (KAEPIC <space> EPIC number) to 9731979899 and get the polling station and other details.