Election Commission has issued formal direction to use paper trail machines in all future Lok Sabha and assembly elections.In a letter to chief electoral officers of states, the poll panel said that henceforth, VVPAT, voter-verifiable paper audit trail, or paper trail machines will be used at polling stations in all future elections where polls are held using EVMs.
In March, the then chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi had told political parties in a meeting that VVPAT machines will be used in all future elections. But now formal directions have been issued.
Several parties have been pressing for the use of these machines to dispel doubts about EVM tampering.