After Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh is all set to be the second state to witness use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) with paper trail in all the assembly elections which is slated to be held by the end of 2017.

Shimla Deputy Commissioner Rohan Chand Thakur who is also returning officer disclosing this on Tuesday said that the district administration bracing up for the assembly elections will also bring into use EVMs with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) during the forthcoming elections.

“To popularise VVPAT after the first level check of the machine that is undergoing at Shogi is completed, we will display some of the machines at major points in Shimla within a few days so that the public is able to get first hand experience and trial ahead of the elections,” said Thakur.

This will be followed by VVPAT machines being taken at every polling booth that fall in the eight assembly constituency under Shimla district ahead of the elections, he added.

Till 15 September as many as 5, 32,995 voters that include 2, 75,572 males and 2, 57,423 females have been enrolled and continuous updating was going on, he said, adding that there are about 30,000 to 35,000 voters who will be exercising their franchise for the first time.

He disclosed that the electoral population (EP) for Shimla district so far was 609, while the state average was 664. There are 1, 27,000 polling booths with one Auxiliary polling booth in Rampur, he said.

Rohan Chand Thakur further said that for greater participation for a stronger democracy besides youth workshop, two campaigns will be launched under Systematic Voter’s Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) voter education programme that include ‘Bal Tantar’ and ‘Blue Nail’ on September 21.
Under ‘Bal Tantar’ the children will be made partners to spread message to encourage and remind the eligible voters in the family to vote, while the ‘Blue Nail’ will promote women participation in voting by painting of a single finger nail with blue nail paint ahead of the elections setting a reminder to vote, said Thakur.
To keep a check on paid news a Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) has also been constituted, he said.