The opposition Congress on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) demanded that the upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra be conducted using VVPAT machines to ensure transparency in the voting process.
If the deployment of VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines is not feasible, the elections to rural and urban civic bodies should be held using ballot papers, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vijay Wadettiwar said.
He was reacting to State Election Commissioner (SEC) Dinesh Waghmare's remarks on Tuesday (August 5, 2025) that VVPATs would not be used in the local body polls due to logistical challenges, including a large number of candidates in each ward and requirement for electors to cast four votes at one time.
The use of VVPATs (connected with EVMs through a printer port) without addressing logistical and human resources challenges could lead to long queues and crowding at polling booths, the commissioner had contended.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Wadettiwar sought to counter the SEC's arguments, stressing electors must be able to verify their votes, and only VVPAT-enabled EVMs can ensure high level of transparency.
